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JCSOUIHF.RN  REGiONAl  llBHARy  FACILITY 

II  mil 

ADDRESS 

ON  TEMPERANCE, 

BY 

WILLIAM  E.  CHANNING. 

WEEKS, JORDAN    &    COMPANY, 

BOSTON,    1837. 

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UCSB  LIBRARY 


AN 


ADDRESS 


ON  TEMPERANCE, 


BY 


WILLIAM  E.  CHANNING. 


Delivered  by  request  of  the  Council  of  the  Massachusetta  Temperanco  Society, 
at  the  Odeon,  Boston,  February  28,  1837,  the  day  appointed  for  tho  Simul- 
taneous Meeting  of  the  Friends  of  Temperance  throughout  the  world. 


WEEKS, JORDAN    &    COMPANY, 
BOSTON,    1837. 


Published  by  the  Council  of  the  Massachusetts  Temperance 
Society,  the  avails  to  be  devoted  to  the  circulalion  of  temperance 
publications. 


CASSADT     AND     MARCH,     PRINTERS. 


[Third  Edition.] 


ADDRESS. 


The  author  was  obliged  to  omit  several  passages  in 
delivering  the  following  address.  In  some  of  these, 
perhaps,  opinions  may  be  found  in  which  all  the  friends 
of  temperance  do  not  concur.  The  Society  at  whose 
request  the  address  is  published,  is,  of  course,  not  res- 
ponsible for  what  it  did  not  hear.  The  author  wishes 
to  be  understood  as  speaking  in  his  own  name  alone. 


ADDRESS. 


I  SEE  before  me  the  representatives  of 
various  societies  for  the  promotion  of  tem- 
perance. It  is  a  good  and  great  cause,  and 
1  shall  be  grateful  to  God,  if,  by  the  service 
now  allotted  me,  I  can  in  any  degree  en- 
courage them  in  their  vi^ork,  or  throw  new 
light  on  their  path.  The  present  occasion 
may  well  animate  a  Christian  minister.  What 
a  noble  testimony  does  this  meeting  bear  to 
the  spirit  and  influences  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Why  is  this  multitude  brought  together  ?  Not 
for  selfish  gratification,  not  for  any  worldly 
end,  but  for  the  purpose  of  arresting  a  great 
moral  and  social  evil,  of  promoting  the  vir- 
tue, dignity,  well  being  of  men.  And  whence 
comes  this  sympathy  with   the   fallen,   the 


ADDRESS. 


guilty,  the  miserable  ?  Have  we  derived  it 
from  the  schools  of  ancient  philosophy,  or 
from  the  temples  of  Greece  and  Rome.  No. 
We  inherit  it  from  Jesus  Christ.  We  have 
caught  it  from  his  lips,  his  life,  his  cross.  This 
meeting,  were  we  to  trace  its  origin,  would 
carry  us  back  to  Bethlehem  and  Calvary. 
The  impulse  which  Christ  gave  to  the  hu- 
man soul,  having  endured  for  ages,  is  now 
manifesting  itself  more  and  more,  in  new  and 
increasing  efforts  of  philanthropy  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  world  from  every  form  of 
evil.  Within  these  walls  the  authority  of 
Christ  has  sometimes  been  questioned,  his 
character  traduced.  To  •  the  blasphemer  of 
that  holy  name,  what  a  reply  is  furnished  by 
the  crowd  which  these  walls  now  contain ! 
A  religion,  which  thus  brings  and  knits  men 
together,  for  the  help,  comfort,  salvation  of 
their  erring,  lost  fellow  creatures,  bears  on  its 
front  a  broad,  bright,  unambiguous  stamp  of 
Divinity.  Let  us  be  grateful  that  wo  were 
born  under  its  light,  and  more  grateful  still  if 
we  have  been,  in  any  measure,  baptized  into 
its  disinterested  and  divine  love. 


ADDRESS. 


I  cannot  hope,  in  the  present  stage  of  the 
temperance  effort,  to  render  any  important 
aid  to  your  cause  by  novelty  of  suggestion. 
Its  friends  have  thoroughly  explored  the 
ground,  over  Ivhich  I  am  to  travel.  Still 
every  man,  who  is  accustomed  to  think  for 
himself,  is  naturally  attracted  to  particular 
views  or  points  in  the  most  familiar  subject ; 
and,  by  concentrating  his  thoughts  on  these, 
he  sometimes  succeeds  in  giving  them  a  new 
prominence,  in  vindicating  their  just  rank, 
and  in  securing  to  them  an  attention,  which 
they  may  not  have  received,  but  which  is 
their  due. 

On  the  subject  of  intemperance,  I  have 
sometimes  thought,  perhaps  without  founda- 
tion, that  its  chief,  essential  evil  was  not 
brought  out  as  thoroughly  and  frequently  as 
its  secondary  evils,  and  that  there  was  not  a 
sufiicient  conviction  of  the  depth  of  its  causes 
and  of  the  remedies  which  it  demands.  With 
these  impressions,  I  invite  your  attention  to 
the  following  topics — the  great  essential  evil 
of  intemperance — the  extent  of  its  tempta- 


ADDRESS. 


tions — its  causes — the  means  of  its  preven- 
tion or  cure. 

I.  I  begin  with  asking,  what  is  the  great, 
essential,  evil  of  intemperance  ?  The  re- 
ply is  given,  when  I  say,  that  intemperance 
is  the  voluntary  extinction  of  reason.  The 
great  evil  is  inward  or  spiritual.  The  intem- 
perate man  divests  himself,  for  a  time,  of  his 
rational  and  moral  nature,  casts  from  himself 
self-consciousness  and  self-command,  brings 
on  phrenzy,  and,  by  repetition  of  this  insan- 
ity, prostrates  more  and  more  his  rational 
and  moral  powers.  He  sins  immediately 
and  directly  against  the  rational  nature,  that 
divine  principle,  which  distinguishes  between 
truth  and  falsehood,  between  right  and  wrong 
action,  which  distinguishes  man  from  the 
brute.  This  is  the  essence  of  the  vice,  what 
constitutes  its  peculiar  guilt  and  wo,  and 
what  should  particularly  impress  and  awaken 
those  who  are  laboring  for  its  suppression. 
All  the  other  evils  of  intemperance  are  light 
compared  with  this,  and  almost  all  flow  from 
this ;  and  it  is  right,  it  is  to  be  desired,  that 


ADDRESS. 


all  other  evils  should  be  joined  with  and  fol- 
low this.  It  is  to  be  desired,  when  a  man 
lifts  a  suicidal  arm  against  his  highest  life, 
when  he  quenches  reason  and  conscience, 
that  he  and  all  others  should  receive  solemn, 
startling  warning  of  the  greatness  of  his  guilt ; 
that  terrible  outward  calamities  should  bear 
witness  to  the  inward  ruin  which  he  is  work- 
ing ;  that  the  hand  writing  of  judgment  and 
wo  on  his  countenance,  form,  and  whole 
condition,  should  declare  what  a  fearful  thing 
it  is  for  a  man,  God's  rational  offspring,  to 
renounce  his  reason  and  become  a  brute.  It 
is  common  for  those  who  argue  against  in- 
temperance, to  describe  the  bloated  counte- 
nance of  the  drunkard,  now  flushed  and  now 
deadly  pale.  They  describe  his  trembling, 
palsied  limbs.  They  describe  his  waning 
prosperity,  his  poverty,  his  despair.  They 
describe  his  desolate,  cheerless  home,  his 
cold  hearth,  his  scanty  board,  his  heart-bro- 
ken wife,  the  squalidness  of  his  children ; 
and  we  groan  in  spirit  over  the  sad  recital. 
But  it  is  right,  that  all  this  should  be.     It  is 


10  ADDRESS. 

right,  that  he,  who,  forewarned,  puts  out  the 
lights  of  understanding  and  conscience  with- 
in him,  who  abandons  his  rank  among  God's 
rational  creatures,  and  takes  his  place  among 
brutes,  should  stand  a  monument  of  wrath 
among  his  fellows,  should  be  a  teacher  where- 
ever  he  is  seen,  a  teacher,  in  every  look  and 
motion,  of  the  awful  guilt  of  destroying  rea- 
son. Were  we  so  constituted,  that  reason 
could  be  extinguished,  and  the  countenance 
retain  its  freshness,  the  form  its  grace,  the 
body  its  vigor,  the  outward  condition  its 
prosperity,  and  no  striking  change  be  seen 
in  one's  home,  so  far  from  being  gainers,  we 
should  lose  some  testimonies  of  God's  paren- 
tal care.  His  care  and  goodness,  as  well  as 
his  justice,  are  manifested  in  the  fearful  mark 
he  has  set  on  the  drunkard,  in  the  blight 
which  falls  on  all  the  drunkard's  joys.  These 
outward  evils,  dreadful  as  they  seem,  are  but 
faint  types  of  the  ruin  within.  We  should 
see  in  them  God's  respect  to  his  own  image 
in  the  soul,  his  parental  warnings  against  the 
crime  of  quenching  the  intellectual  and  moral 
life. 


ADDRESS.  11 

We  are  too  apt  to  fix  our  thoughts  on  the 
consequences  or  punishments  of  crime  and 
to  overlook  the  crime  itself.  This  is  not 
turning  punishment  to  its  highest  use.  Pun- 
ishment is  an  outward  sign  of  inward  evil. 
It  is  meant  to  reveal  something  more  terrible 
than  itself.  The  greatness  of  punishment  is 
a  mode  of  embodying,  making  visible,  the 
magnitude  of  the  crime  to  which  it  is  attach- 
ed. The  miseries  of  intemperance,  its  loath- 
someness, ghastliness  and  pains,  are  not  seen 
aright,  if  they  do  not  represent  to  us  the  more 
fearful  desolation  wrought  by  this  sin  in  the 
soul. 

Among  the  evils  of  intemperance,  much 
importance  is  given  to  the  poverty  of  which 
it  is  the  cause.  But  this  evil,  great  as  it  is, 
is  yet  light  in  comparison  with  the  essential 
evil  of  intemperance,  which  I  am  so  anxious 
to  place  distinctly  before  you.  What  mat- 
ters it  that  a  man  be  poor,  if  he  carry  into 
his  poverty  the  spirit,  energy,  reason,  and 
virtues  of  a  Man  ?  What  matters  it  that  a 
man  must,  for  a  few  years,  live  on  bread  and 


12  ADDRESS. 

water  f  How  many  of  the  richest  are  re- 
duced by  disease  to  a  worse  condition  than 
this  ?  Honest,  virtuous,  noble-minded  pov- 
erty is  a  comparatively  light  evil.  The  an- 
cient philosopher  chose  it  as  the  condition  of 
virtue.  It  has  been  the  lot  of  many  a  Chris- 
tian. The  poverty  of  the  intemperate  man 
owes  its  great  misery  to  its  cause.  He  who 
makes  himself  a  beggar,  by  having  made 
himself  a  brute,  is  miserable  indeed.  He 
who  has  no  solace,  who  has  only  agonizing 
recollections  and  harrowing  remorse,  as  he 
looks  on  his  cold  hearth,  his  scanty  table,  his 
ragged  children,  has  indeed  to  bear  a  crush- 
ing weight  of  wo.  That  he  suffers,  is  a  light 
thing.  That  he  has  brought  on  himself  this 
suffering  by  the  voluntary  extinction  of  his 
reason,  this  is  the  terrible  thought,  the  in- 
tolerable curse. 

We  are  told,  that  we  must  keep  this  or 
that  man  from  drunkenness,  to  save  him  from 
"  coming  on  the  town,"  from  being  a  burden 
to  the  city.  The  motive  is  not  to  be  over- 
looked ;  but  I  cannot  keep  my  thoughts  fixed 


ADD  RE  S  S.  13 

for  a  moment  on  the  few  hundred  or  thou- 
sand dollars,  which  the  intemperate  cost. 
When  I  go  to  the  poor  house,  and  see  the 
degradation,  the  spiritual  weakness,  the  ab- 
jectness,  the  half-idiot  imbecility  written  on 
the  drunkard's  countenance,  I  see  a  ruin 
which  makes  the  cost  of  his  support  a  grain 
of  dust  in  the  scale.  I  am  not  sorry  that  so- 
ciety is  taxed  for  the  drunkard.  I  would  it 
were  taxed  more.  I  would  the  burden  of 
sustaining  him  were  so  heavy,  that  we  should 
be  compelled  to  wake  up,  and  ask  how  he 
may  be  saved  from  ruin.  It  is  intended, 
wisely  intended  by  God,  that  sin  shall  spread 
its  miseries  beyond  itself,  that  no  human  be- 
ing shall  suffer  alone,  that  the  man  who  falls 
shall  draw  others  with  him,  if  not  into  his 
guilt,  at  least  into  a  portion  of  his  wo.  If 
one  member  of  the  social  body  suffer,  others 
must  suffer  too  ;  and  this  is  well.  This  is 
one  of  the  dependencies,  by  which  we  become 
interested  in  one  another's  moral  safety,  and 
are  summoned  to  labor  for  the  rescue  of  the 
fallen. 

2 


14  ADDRESS. 

Intemperance  is  to  be  pitied  and  abhorred 
for  its  own  sake,  much  more  than  for  its  out- 
ward consequences.  These  consequences 
owe  their  chief  bitterness  to  their  criminal 
source.  We  speak  of  the  miseries  which 
the  drunkard  carries  into  his  family.  But 
take  away  his  own  brutality,  and  how  light- 
ened would  be  these  miseries.  We  talk  of 
his  wife  and  children  in  rags.  Let  the  rags 
continue  ;  but  suppose  them  to  be  the  effects 
of  an  innocent  cause.  Suppose  the  drunk- 
ard to  have  been  a  virtuous  husband,  and  an 
affectionate  father,  and  that  sickness  not  vice 
has  brought  his  family  thus  low.  Suppose 
his  wife  and  children  bound  to  him  by  a 
strong  love,  which  a  life  of  labor  for  their 
support  and  of  unwearied  kindness  has  awak- 
ened ;  suppose  them  to  know  that  his  toils 
for  their  welfare  had  broken  down  his  frame  ; 
suppose  him  able  to  say,  "  we  are  poor  in 
this  world's  goods,  but  rich  in  affection  and 
rehgious  trust.  I  am  going  from  you  ;  but  I 
leave  you  to  the  Father  of  the  fatherless  and 
to  the  widow's  God."    Suppose  this,  and  how 


ADDRESS.  15 

changed  these  rags  !  How  changed  the  cold 
naked  room !  The  heart's  warmth  can  do 
much  to  withstand  the  winter's  cold ;  and 
there  is  hope,  there  is  honor  in  this  virtuous 
indigence.  What  breaks  the  heart  of  the 
drunkard's  wife?  It  is  not  that  he  is  poor, 
but  that  he  is  a  drunkard.  Instead  of  that 
bloated  face,  now  distorted  with  passion, 
now  robbed  of  every  gleam  of  intelligence,  if 
the  wife  could  look  on  an  affectionate  coun- 
tenance, which  had  for  years  been  the  inter- 
preter of  a  well  principled  mind  and  faithful 
heart,  what  an  overwhelming  load  would  be 
lifted  from  her.  It  is  a  husband,  whose  touch 
is  polluting,  whose  infirmities  are  the  wit- 
nesses of  his  guilt,  who  has  blighted  all  her 
hopes,  who  has  proved  false  to  the  vow  which 
made  her  his ;  it  is  such  a  husband  who 
makes  home  a  hell,  not  one  whom  toil  and 
disease  and  providence  have  cast  on  the  care 
of  wife  and  children. 

We  look  too  much  at  the  consequences  of 
vice,  too  little  at  the  vice  itself.  It  is  vice, 
which  is  the  chief  weight  of  what  we  call  its 


16 


ADDRESS. 


consequence,  vice  which  is  the  bitterness  in 
the  cup  of  human  wo. 

II.     I  proceed  now  to  offer  some  remarks 
on  the   extent  of  temptations  to  this  vice. 
And  on  this  point,  I  shall  not  avail  myself  of 
the  statistics  of  intemperance.     I  shall  not 
attempt  to  number  its  victims.     I  wish  to 
awaken  universal  vigilance,  by  showing  that 
the   temptations  to  this  excess  are   spread 
through  all  classes  of  society.     We  are  apt 
to  speak  as  if  the  laborious,  uneducated,  un- 
improved, were  alone  in  danger,  and  as  if 
we  ourselves  had  no  interest  in  this  cause, 
except  as  others  are  concerned.     But  it  is 
not  so  ;  multitudes  in  all  classes  are  in  danger. 
In  truth,  when  we  recal  the  sad  histories  of 
not  a  few  in  every  circle,  who  once  stood 
among  the  firmest  and  then  yielded  to  temp- 
tation, we  are  taught,  that  none  of  us  should 
dismiss  fear,  that  we  too  may  be  walking  on 
the  edge  of  the  abyss.     The  young  are  ex- 
posed to  intemperance,  for  youth  wants  fore- 
thought, loves  excitement,  is  apt   to  place 
happiness  in  gaiety,  is  prone  to  convivial 


ADDRESS.  17 

pleasure,  and  too  often  finds  or  makes  this  the 
path  to  hell ;  nor  are  the  old  secure,  for  age 
unnerves  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body,  and 
silently  steals  away  the  power  of  self-control. 
The  idle  are  in  scarcely  less  peril  than  the 
over-worked   laborer ;    for   uneasy  cravings 
spring  up  in  the  vacant  mind,  and  the  excite- 
ment  of   intoxicating  draughts  is   greedily 
sought  as   an  escape  from  the  intolerable 
weariness  of  having  nothing  to  do.     Men  of 
a  coarse,  unrefined  character  fall  easily  into 
intemperance,  because  they  see  little  in  its 
brutality  to  disgust  them.      It  is  a  sadder 
thought  that  men  of  genius  and  sensibility 
are  hardly  less  exposed.    Strong  action  of  the 
mind  is  even  more  exhausting  than  the  toil 
of  the  hands.     It  uses  up,  if  I  may  so  say, 
the  finer  spirits,  and  leaves  either  a  sink- 
ing of  the  system  which  craves  for  tonics, 
or  a  restlessness  which  seeks  relief  in  de- 
ceitful sedatives.     Besides,  it  is  natural  for 
minds  of  great  energy,  to  hunger  for  strong 
excitement;    and  this,  when   not   found   in 
innocent  occupation  and  amusement,  is  too 


18  ADDRESS. 

often  sought  in  criminal  indulgence.  These 
remarks  apply  peculiarly  to  men  whose  gen- 
ius is  poetical,  imaginative,  allied  with  and 
quickened  by  peculiar  sensibility.  Such 
men,  living  in  worlds  of  their  own  creation, 
kindling  themselves  with  ideal  beauty  and 
joy,  and  too  often  losing  themselves  in 
reveries,  in  which  imagination  ministers  to 
appetite,  and  the  sensual  triumphs  over  the 
spiritual  nature,  are  pecuHarly  in  danger  of 
losing  the  balance  of  the  mind,  of  losing 
calm  thought,  clear  judgment  and  moral 
strength  of  will,  become  children  of  impulse, 
learn  to  despise  simple  and  common  pleas- 
ures, and  are  hurried  to  ruin  by  a  feverish 
thirst  of  high  wrought,  delirious  gratification. 
In  such  men,  these  mental  causes  of  excess 
are  often  aggravated  by  pecuHar  irritable- 
ness  of  the  nervous  system.  Hence  the 
records  of  literature  are  so  sad.  Hence  the 
brightest  lights  of  the  intellectual  world  have 
so  often  undergone  disastrous  eclipse ;  and 
the  inspired  voice  of  genius,  so  thrilling,  so 
exalting,  has  died  away  in  the  brutal  or  idiot 


ADDRESS. 


1^ 


cries  of  intemperance.  I  have  now  been 
speaking  of  the  highest  order  of  intellectual 
men  ;  but  it  may  be  said  of  men  of  education 
in  general,  that  they  must  not  feel  themselves 
beyond  peril.  It  is  said,  that  as  large  a  pro- 
portion of  intemperate  men  can  be  found 
among  those,  v^^ho  have  gone  through  our 
colleges,  as  among  an  equal  number  of  men 
in  the  same  sphere  of  life,  vi^ho  have  not  en- 
joyed the  same  culture.  It  must  not,  how- 
ever, be  inferred,  that  the  cultivation  of  the 
intellect  afford  no  moral  aids.  The  truth  is, 
that  its  good  tendencies  are  thwarted.  Ed- 
ucated men  fall  victims  to  temptation  as 
often  as  other  men,  not  because  education  is 
inoperative,  but  because  our  public  semina- 
ries give  a  partial  training,  being  directed 
almost  wholly  to  the  developement  of  the 
intellect,  and  very  little  to  moral  culture,  and 
still  less  to  the  invigoration  of  the  physical 
system.  Another  cause  of  the  evil  is  prob- 
ably this,  that  young  men,  liberally  educated, 
enter  on  professions  which  give  at  first  little 
or  no  occupation,  which  expose  them,  per- 


20  ADDRESS. 

haps  for  years  to  the  temptations  of  leisure, 
the  most  perilous  in  an  age  of  inexperience 
and  passion.  Accordingly,  the  ranks  of 
intemperance  are  recruited  from  that  class 
which  forms  the  chief  hope  of  society.  And 
I  would  I  could  stop  here.  But  there  is 
another  prey  on  which  intemperance  seizes, 
still  more  to  be  deplored,  and  that  is  Woman. 
I  know  no  sight  on  earth  more  sad,  than 
woman's  countenance,  which  once  knew  no 
suffusion  but  the  glow  of  exquisite  feeling, 
or  the  blush  of  hallowed  modesty,  crim- 
soned, deformed  by  intemperance.  Even 
woman  is  not  safe.  The  delicacy  of  her 
physical  organization  exposes  her  to  inequal- 
ities of  feeling,  which  tempt  to  the  seductive 
relief  given  by  cordials.  Man  with  his  iron 
nerves  little  knows  what  the  sensitive  frame 
of  woman  suffers,  how  many  desponding  im- 
aginations throng  on  her  in  her  solitudes, 
how  often  she  is  exhausted  by  unremitting 
cares,  and  how  much  the  power  of  self-con- 
trol is  impaired  by  repeated  derangements  of 
her  frail  system.     The  truth  should  be  told. 


ADDRESS.  21 

In  all  our  families,  no  matter  what  their  con- 
dition, there  are  endangered  individuals,  and 
fear  and  watchfulness  in  regard  to  intemper- 
ance belong  to  all. 

Do  not  say,  that  I  exaggerate  your  expos- 
ure to  intemperance.  Let  no  man  say,  when 
he  thinks  of  the  drunkard,  broken  in  health 
and  spoiled  of  intellect,  "  I  can  never  so  fall." 
He  thought  as  little  of  falling  in  his  earlier 
years.  The  promise  of  his  youth  was  as 
bright  as  yours ;  and  even  after  he  began  his 
downward  course,  he  was  as  unsuspicious 
as  the  firmest  around  him,  and  would  have 
repelled  as  indignantly  the  admonition  to  be- 
ware of  intemperance.  The  danger  of  this 
vice  lies  in  its  almost  imperceptible  approach. 
Few  who  perish  by  it  know  its  first  accesses. 
Youth  does  not  see  or  suspect  drunkenness 
in  the  sparkling  beverage,  which  quickens 
all  its  susceptibilities  of  joy.  The  invalid 
does  not  see  it  in  the  cordial,  which  his 
physician  prescribes,  and  which  gives  new 
tone  to  his  debilitated  organs.     The  man  of 

thought  and  genius  detects  no  palsying  poison 
3 


22  ADDRESS. 

in  the  draught,  which  seems  a  spring  of  in- 
spiration to  intellect  and  imagination.  The 
lover  of  social  pleasure  little  dreams,  that  the 
glass,  which  animates  conversation,  will  ever 
be  drunk  in  solitude,  and  will  sink  him  too  low 
for  the  intercourse  in  which  he  now  delights. 
Intemperance  comes  with  noiseless  step,  and 
binds  its  first  chords  with  a  touch  too  light 
to  be  felt.  This  truth  of  mournful  expe- 
rience should  be  treasured  up  by  us  all,  and 
should  influence  the  habits  and  arrangements 
of  domestic  and  social  life  in  every  class  of 
the  community. 

Such  is  the  extent  of  the  temptations  of 
this  vice.  It  is  true,  however,  that  whilst 
its  ravages  may  be  traced  through  all  con- 
ditions, they  are  chiefly  to  be  found  in 
the  poorer  and  laboring  portions  of  society. 
Here  its  crimes  and  woes  swell  to  an  amount 
which  startles  and  appals  us.  Here  the  evil 
is  to  be  chiefly  withstood.  I  shall,  there- 
fore, in  my  following  remarks,  confine  myself 
very  much  to  the  causes  and  remedies  of 
intemperance  in  this  class  of  the  community. 


ADDRESS.  2S^ 

III.  Among  the  causes  of  intemperance 
in  the  class  of  which  I  have  spoken,  not  a 
few  are  to  be  found  in  the  present  state  of 
society,  which  every  man  does  something  to 
confirm,  and  which  brings  to  most  of  us  many 
privileges.  On  these  I  shall  now  insist,  be- 
cause they  show  our  obligation  to  do  what 
we  can  to  remove  the  evil.  It  is  just,  that 
they,  who  receive  good,  should  aid  those  who 
receive  harm  from  our  present  social  organ- 
ization. Undoubtedly,  the  primary  cause  of 
intemperance  is  in  the  intemperate  them- 
selves, in  their  moral  weakness  and  irresolu- 
tion, in  the  voluntary  surrender  of  themselves 
to  temptation.  Still,  society,  by  increasing 
temptation  and  diminishing  men's  power  to 
resist,  becomes  responsible  for  all  wide  spread 
vices,  and  is  bound  to  put  forth  all  its  energy 
for  their  suppression.  This  leads  me  to  con- 
sider some  of  the  causes  of  intemperance 
which  have  their  foundation  in  our  social 
state. 

One  cause  of  the  commonness  of  intem- 
perance in  the  present  state  of  things  is  the 


24  ADDRESS. 

heavy  burden  of  care  and  toil  which  is  laid 
on  a  large  multitude  of  men.  Multitudes, 
to  earn  subsistence  for  themselves  and  their 
families,  are  often  compelled  to  undergo  a 
degree  of  labor  exhausting  to  the  spirits 
and  injurious  to  health.  Of  consequence, 
relief  is  sought  in  stimulants.  We  do  not 
find  that  civilization  lightens  men's  toils  ;  as 
yet  it  has  increased  them  ;  and  in  this  effect, 
I  see  the  sign  of  a  deep  defect  in  what  we 
call  the  progress  of  society.  It  cannot  be 
the  design  of  the  Creator,  that  the  whole 
of  life  should  be  spent  in  drudgery  for  the 
support  of  animal  wants.  That  civilization 
is  very  imperfect,  in  which  the  mass  of 
men  can  redeem  no  time  from  bodily  labor 
for  intellectual,  moral,  and  social  culture. 
It  is  melancholy  to  witness  the  degradation 
of  multitudes  to  the  condition  of  beasts  of 
burden.  Exhausting  toils  unfit  the  mind  to 
withstand  temptation.  The  man,  spent  with 
labor,  and  cut  oflf  by  his  condition  from  higher 
pleasures,  is  impelled  to  seek  a  deceitful 
solace   in   sensual   excess.      How  the   con- 


ADDRESS.  25 

dition  of  society  shall  be  so  changed  as  to 
prevent  excessive  pressure  on  any  class,  is 
undoubtedly  a  hard  question.  One  thing 
seems  plain,  that  there  is  no  tendency  in  our 
present  institutions  and  habits  to  bring  relief. 
On  the  contrary,  rich  and  poor  seem  to  be 
more  and  more  oppressed  with  incessant  toil, 
exhausting  forethought,  anxious  struggles, 
feverish  competitions.  Some  look  to  legis- 
lation to  lighten  the  burden  of  the  laboring 
class.  But  equal  laws,  and  civil  liberty  have 
no  power  to  remove  the  shocking  contrast  of 
condition  which  all  civilized  communities 
present.  Inward  spiritual  improvement,  I 
believe,  is  the  only  sure  remedy  for  social 
evils.  What  we  need  is,  a  new  diffusion  of 
Christian,  fraternal  love,  to  stir  up  the  pow- 
erful and  prosperous  to  succor  liberally  and 
encourage  the  unfortunate  or  weak,  and  a 
new  diffusion  of  intellectual  and  moral  force, 
to  make  the  multitude  efficient  for  their  own 
support,  to  form  them  to  self-control,  and  to 
breathe  a  spirit  of  independence,  which  will 
scorn  to  ask  or  receive  unnecessary  relief. 


26  A  D  D  K  E  S  S. 

Another  cause,  intimately  connected  with 
the  last,  is  the  intellectual  depression  and 
the  ignorance  to  which  many  are  subjected. 
They  who  toil  from  morning  to  night,  with- 
out seasons  of  thought  and  mental  improve- 
ment, are  of  course  exceedingly  narrowed  in 
their  faculties,  views,  and  sources  of  gratifi- 
cation. The  present  moment,  and  the  body, 
engross  their  thoughts.  The  pleasures  of 
intellect,  of  imagination,  of  taste,  of  reading, 
of  cultivated  society,  are  almost  entirely  de- 
nied them.  What  pleasures  but  those  of  the 
senses  remain  ?  Unused  to  reflection  and 
forethought,  how  dim  must  be  their  percep- 
tions of  religion  and  duty,  and  how  little 
fitted  are  they  to  cope  with  temptation.  Un- 
doubtedly in  this  country,  this  cause  of  in- 
temperance is  less  operative  than  in  others. 
There  is  less  brutal  ignorance  here  than 
elsewhere ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  facil- 
ities of  excess  are  incomparably  greater,  so 
that  for  the  uneducated,  the  temptation  to 
vice  may  be  stronger  in  this  than  in  less  en- 
lighted  lands.     Our  outward  prosperity,  un- 


A.  D  D  R  E  S  S. 


accompanied  with  proportionate  moral  and 
mental  improvement,  becomes  a  mighty  im- 
pulse to  intemperance,  and  this  impulse  the 
prosperous  are  bound  to  withstand. 

I  proceed  to  another  cause  of  intempe- 
rance among  the  poor  and  laboring  classes, 
and  that  is  the  general  sensuality  and  earth- 
liness  of  the  community.  There  is  indeed 
much  virtue,  much  spirituality,  in  the  prosper- 
ous classes,  but  it  is  generally  unseen.  There 
is  a  vastly  greater  amount  in  these  classes 
of  worldliness,  of  devotion  to  the  senses, 
and  this  stands  out  in  bold  relief.  The 
majority  live  unduly  for  the  body.  Where 
there  is  little  intemperance  in  the  common 
acceptation  of  that  term,  there  is  yet  a  great 
amount  of  excess.  Thousands,  who  are  never 
drunk,  place  their  chief  happiness  in  pleas- 
ures of  the  table.  How  much  of  the  intellect 
of  this  community  is  palsied,  how  much  of 
the  expression  of  the  countenance  blotted 
out,  how  much  of  the  spirit  buried,  through 
unwise  indulgence  !  What  is  the  great  lesson, 
which  the  more  prosperous  classes  teach  to 


28  ADDRESS. 

the  poorer  ?  Not  self-denial,  not  spirituality, 
not  the  great  Christian  truth,  that  human 
happiness  lies  in  the  triumphs  of  the  mind 
over  the  body,  in  inward  force  and  life. 
The  poorer  are  taught  by  the  richer,  that 
the  greatest  good  is  ease,  indulgence.  The 
voice  which  descends  from  the  prosperous, 
contradicts  the  lessons  of  Christ  and  of  sound 
philosophy.  It  is  the  sensuality,  the  earthli- 
ness  of  those  who  give  the  tone  to  public 
sentiment,  which  is  chargeable  with  a  vast 
amount  of  the  intemperance  of  the  poor. 
How  is  the  poor  man  to  resist  intemperance? 
Only  by  a  moral  force,  an  energy  of  will,  a 
principle  of  self-denial  in  his  soul.  And 
where  is  this  taught  him?  Does  a  higher 
morality  come  to  him  from  those  whose  con- 
dition makes  them  his  superiors?  The  great 
inquiry  which  he  hears  among  the  better 
educated  is.  What  shall  we  eat  and  drink,  and 
wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?  Unceas- 
ing struggles  for  outward,  earthly,  sensual 
good,  constitute  the  chief  activity,  which  he 
sees  around  him.    To  suppose  that  the  poorer 


ADD  RE  S  S. 


classes  should  receive  lessons  of  luxury  and 
self-indulgence  from  the  more  prosperous, 
and  should  yet  resist  the  most  urgent  temp- 
tations to  excess,  is  to  expect  from  them  a 
moral  force^  in  which  we  feel  ourselves  to  be 
sadly  wanting.  In  their  hard  conflicts,  how 
little  of  life-giving  truth,  of  elevating  thought, 
of  heavenly  aspiration,  do  they  receive  from, 
those  above  them  in  worldly  condition. 

Another  cause  of  intemperance  is  the  want 
of  self-respect  which  the  present  state  of  so- 
ciety induces  among  the  poor  and  laborious. 
Just  as  far  as  wealth  is  the  object  of  worship, 
the  measure  of  men's  importance,  the  badge  of 
distinction,  so  far  there  will  be  a  tendency  to 
self-contempt  and  self-abandonment  among 
those  whose  lot  gives  them  no  chance  of  its 
acquisition.  Such  naturally  feel  as  if  the 
great  good  of  life  were  denied  them.  They 
see  themselves  neglected.  Their  condition 
cuts  them  ofl*  from  communication  with  the 
improved.  They  think  they  have  little  stake 
in  the  general  weal.  They  do  not  feel  as 
if  they  had    a  character  to  lose.     Nothing 


30  ADDRESS. 

reminds  them  of  the  greatness  of  their  na- 
ture. Nothing  teaches  them,  that  in  their 
obscure  lot  they  may  secure  the  highest 
good  on  earth.  Catching  from  the  general 
tone  of  society  the  ruinous  notion,  that  wealth 
is  honor  as  well  as  happiness,  they  see  in 
their  narrow  lot  nothing  to  inspire  self-re- 
spect. In  this  delusion,  they  are  not  more 
degraded  than  the  prosperous ;  they  but 
echo  the  voice  of  society ;  but  to  them  the 
delusion  brings  a  deeper,  immediate  ruin.  By 
sinking  them  in  their  own  eyes,  it  robs  them 
of  a  powerful  protection  against  low  vices.  It 
prepares  them  for  coarse  manners,  for  gross 
pleasures,  for  descent  to  brutal  degradation. 
Of  all  classes  of  society,  the  poor  should  be 
treated  with  peculiar  deference,  as  the  means 
of  counteracting  their  chief  peril ;  I  mean,  the 
loss  of  self-respect.  But  to  all  their  other 
evil  is  added  peculiar  neglect.  Can  we  then 
wonder  that  they  fall  ? 

I  might  name  other  causes  in  our  social 
constitution  favoring  intemperance;  but  I 
must  pass  them,  and  will  suggest  one  char- 


ADDRESS.  B% 

acteristic  of  our  times  which  increases  all 
the  tendances  to  this  vice.  Our  times  are 
distinguished  by  what  is  called  a  love  of  ex- 
citement ;  in  other  words,  by  a  love  of  strong 
stimulants.  To  be  stimulated,  excited,  is  the 
universal  want.  The  calmness,  sobriety, 
plodding  industry  of  our  fathers  have  been 
succeeded  by  a  feverish  restlessness.  The 
books  that  are  read  are  not  the  great,  stand- 
ard, immortal  works  of  genius,  which  re- 
quire calm  thought,  and  inspire  deep  feeling ; 
but  ephemeral  works,  which  are  run  through 
with  a  rail-road  rapidity,  and  which  give  a 
pleasure  not  unlike  that  produced  by  exhila- 
rating draughts.  Business  is  become  a  race, 
and  is  hurried  on  by  the  excitement  of  great 
risks,  and  the  hope  of  great  profits.  Even 
religion  partakes  the  general  restlessness. 
In  some  places,  extravagant  measures,  which 
storm  the  nervous  system,  and  drive  the 
more  sensitive  to  the  borders  of  insanity, 
are  resorted  to  for  its  promotion.  Every 
where  people  go  to  church  to  be  excited 
rather  than  improved.     This  thirst  for  stim- 


32  ADDRESS. 

ulants  cannot  be  shut  up  in  certain  spheres. 
It  spreads  through  and  characterises  the 
community.  It  pervades  those  classes,  who, 
unhappily,  can  afford  themselves  but  one 
strong  stimulus,  intoxicating  liquor  ;  and 
among  these,  the  spirit  of  the  age  breaks 
out  in  intemperance. 

IV.  I  have  now  set  before  you  some  of 
the  causes  of  intemperance  in  our  present 
social  state  ;  and  this  I  have  done  that  you 
may  feel  that  society,  in  all  its  ranks,  espec- 
ially in  the  highest,  is  bound  in  justice  to 
resist  the  evil ;  and  not  only  justice,  but  be- 
nevolence pleads  with  us  to  spare  no  efforts 
for  its  prevention  or  cure.  The  thought  that 
in  the  bosom  of  our  society,  are  multitudes 
standing  on  the  brink  of  perdition,  multitudes 
who  are  strongly  tempted  to  debase  and  de- 
stroy their  rational  nature,  to  sink  into  brutal 
excess,  to  seal  their  ruin  in  this  world  and  in 
the  world  to  come,  ought  to  weigh  on  us  as 
a  burden,  ought  to  inspire  deeper  concern 
than   the  visitation   of  pestilence,  ought  to 


ADDRESS. 


rouse  every  man,  who  has  escaped  this  deg- 
radation, to  do  what  he  may  to  rescue  the 
fallen,  and  still  more,  to  save  the  falling. 

The  question  now  comes,  how  shall  we  ar- 
rest, how  suppress  this  great  evil  ?  Such  is 
our  last  enquiry,  and  to  this  I  answer,  there 
are  two  modes  of  action.  To  rescue  men, 
we  must  act  on  them  inwardly  or  outwardly. 
We  must  either  give  them  strength  within  to 
withstand  the  temptations  to  intemperance, 
6r  we  must  remove  these  temptations  with- 
out. We  must  increase  the  power  of  resist- 
ance, or  diminish  the  pressure  which  is  to  be 
resisted.  Both  modes  of  influence  are  use- 
ful, but  the  first  incalculably  the  most  impor- 
tant. No  man  is  safe  against  this  foe,  but 
he  who  is  armed  with  moral  force,  with 
strength  in  his  own  soul,  with  the  might  of 
principle,  and  a  virtuous  will.  The  great 
means,  then,  of  repressing  intemperance  in 
those  portions  of  society  which  are  most  ex- 
posed to  it,  is  to  communicate  to  them,  or 
awaken  in  them,  moral  strength,  the  power 
of  self-denial,  a  nobler  and  more  vigorousr 


34  ADDRESS. 

action  of  conscience  and  religious  principle. 
In  other  words,  to  save  the  laboring  and  poor 
from  intemperance,  we  must  set  in  action 
amongst  them,  the  means  of  intellectual, 
moral,  and  religious  improvement.  We 
must  strive  to  elevate  them  as  rational  and 
moral  beings,  to  unfold  their  highest  nature. 
It  is  idle  to  think,  that  whilst  these  classes 
remain  the  same  in  other  respects,  they  can 
be  cured  of  intemperance.  Intemperance 
does  not  stand  alone  in  their  condition  and 
character.  It  is  a  part  or  sign  of  general 
degradation.  It  can  only  be  effectually  re- 
moved by  exalting  their  whole  character  and 
condition.  To  heal  a  diseased  limb  or  or- 
gan, you  must  relieve  and  strengthen  the 
whole  body.  So  it  is  with  the  mind.  We 
cannot,  if  we  would,  remove  those  vices 
from  the  poor,  which  are  annoying  to  our- 
selves, and  leave  them,  in  other  respects,  as 
corrupt  as  before.  Nothing  but  a  general 
improvement  of  their  nature,  can  fortify  them 
against  the  crimes  which  make  them  scourges 
alike  to  themselves,  and  to  their  race. 


ADDRESS.  35 

And  how  may  moral  strength,  force  of 
principle,  be  communicated  to  the  less  pros- 
perous classes  of  society  ?  I  answer  first, 
the  surest  means  is,  to  increase  it  among  the 
more  favored.  All  classes  of  a  community 
have  connexions,  sympathies.  Let  selfish- 
ness and  sensuality  reign  among  the  pros- 
perous and  educated,  and  the  poor  and  un- 
educated will  reflect  these  vices  in  grosser 
forms.  That  man  is  the  best  friend  to  tem- 
perance among  high  and  low,  whose  charac- 
ter and  life  express  clearly  and  strongly  moral 
energy,  self-denial,  superiority  to  the  body, 
superiority  to  wealth,  elevation  of  sentiment 
and  principle.  The  greatest  benefactor  to 
society  is  not  he  who  serves  it  by  single  acts, 
but  whose  general  character  is  the  manifest- 
ation of  a  higher  life  and  spirit  than  pervades 
the  mass.  Such  men  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth.  The  might  of  individual  virtue  sur- 
passes all  other  powers.  The  multiplication 
of  individuals  of  true  force  and  dignity  of 
mind,  would  be  the  surest  of  all  omens  of  the 
suppression  of  intemperance  in  every  condi- 
tion of  society. 


36  ADDRESS. 

Another  means  is,  the  cultivation  of  a  more 
fraternal  intercourse  than  now  exists  between 
the  more  and  less  improved  portions  of  the 
community.  Our  present  social  barriers  and 
distinctions,  in  so  far  as  they  restrict  sympa- 
thy, and  substitute  the  spirit  of  caste,  the 
bigotry  of  rank,  for  the  spirit  of  humanity, 
for  reverence  of  our  common  nature,  ought 
to  be  reprobated  as  gross  violations  of  the 
christian  law.  Those  classes  of  society  which 
have  hght,  strength,  and  virtue,  are  bound  to 
communicate  these  to  such  as  want  them. 
The  weak,  ignorant,  falling  and  fallen  ought 
not  to  be  cut  off  from  their  more  favored 
brethren,  ought  not  to  be  left  to  act  continu- 
ally and  exclusively  on  one  another,  and  thus 
to  propagate  their  crimes  and  woes  without 
end.  The  good  should  form  a  holy  con- 
spiracy against  evil,  should  assail  it  by  sep- 
arate and  joint  exertion,  should  approach  it, 
study  it,  weep  and  pray  over  it,  and  throw  all 
their  souls  into  efforts  for  its  removal.  My 
friends,  you  whom  God  has  prospered,  whom 
he  has  enlightened,  in  whose  hearts  he  has 


ADDRESS.  37 

awakened  a  reverence  for  himself,  what  are 
you  doing  for  the  fallen,  the  falling,  the  mis- 
erable of  your  race  ?  When  an  improved 
christian  thinks  of  the  mass  of  unpitied,  un- 
friended guilt  in  this  city,  must  he  not  be 
shocked  at  the  hardness  of  all  our  hearts  ? 
Are  we  not  all  of  one  blood,  one  nature,  one 
heavenly  descent ;  and  are  outward  distinc- 
tions, which  to-morrow  are  to  be  buried  for- 
ever in  the  tomb,  to  divide  us  from  one 
another,  to  cut  off  the  communications  of 
brotherly  sympathy  and  aid  ?  In  a  christian 
community,  not  one  human  being  should  be 
left  to  fall,  without  counsel,  remonstrance, 
sympathy,  encouragement,  from  others  more 
enlightened  and  virtuous  than  himself.  Say 
not  this  cannot  be  done.  I  know  it  cannot 
be  done  without  great  changes  in  our  habits, 
views,  feelings ;  but  these  changes  must  be 
made.  A  new  bond  must  unite  the  scattered 
portions  of  men.  A  new  sense  of  responsi- 
bility must  stir  up  the  enlightened,  the  pros- 
perous, the  virtuous.  Christianity  demands 
this.  The  progress  of  society  demands  it. 
5 


38  ADDRESS. 

I  see  blessed  omens  of  this,  and  they  are 
among  the  brightest  features  of  our  times. 
Again,  to  elevate  and  strengthen  the  more 
exposed  classes  of  society,  it  is  indispensable 
that  a  Higher  Education  should  be  afforded 
them.  We  boast  of  the  means  of  education 
afforded  to  the  poorest  here.  It  may  be  said 
with  truth,  in  regard  to  both  rich  and  poor, 
that  these  means  are  very  deficient.  As  to 
moral  education,  hardly  any  provisions  are 
made  for  it  in  our  public  schools.  To  edu- 
cate is  something  more  than  to  teach  those 
elements  of  knowledge  which  are  needed  to 
get  a  subsistence.  It  is  to  exercise  and  call 
out  the  higher  faculties  and  affections  of  a 
human  being.  Education  is  not  the  author- 
itative, compulsory,  mechanical  training  of 
passive  pupils,  but  the  influence  of  gifted  and 
quickening  minds  on  the  spirits  of  the  young. 
Such  education  is,  as  yet,  sparingly  enjoyed, 
and  cannot  be  too  fervently  desired.  Of 
what  use,  let  me  ask,  is  the  wealth  of  this 
community,  but  to  train  up  a  better  genera- 
tion than  ourselves  ?     Of  what  use,  I  ask,  is 


ADDRESS.  39 

freedom,  except  to  call  forth  the  best  powers 
of  all  classes  and  of  every  individual  ?  What, 
but  human  improvement,  is  the  great  end  of 
society  ?  Why  ought  we  to  sustain  so  anx- 
iously republican  institutions,  if  they  do  not 
tend  to  form  a  nobler  race  of  men,  and  to 
spread  nobleness  through  all  conditions  of 
social  life  ?  It  is  a  melancholy  and  prevalent 
error  among  us,  that  persons  in  the  labor- 
ing classes,  are  denied  by  their  conditions 
any  considerable  intellectual  improvement. 
They  must  live,  it  is  thought,  to  work, 
not  to  fulfil  the  great  end  of  a  human  being, 
which  is  to  unfold  his  divinest  powers  and 
affections.  But  it  is  not  so.  The  poor- 
est child  might,  and  ought  to  have  liberal 
means  of  self-improvement ;  and  were  there 
a  true  reverence  among  us  for  human  nature 
and  for  Christianity,  he  would  find  them.  In 
a  letter,  recently  received  from  a  most  intel- 
ligent traveller  in  Germany,  I  am  informed, 
that  in  certain  parts  of  that  country,  there  is 
found,  in  the  most  depressed  classes,  a  degree 
of  intellectual  culture,  not  generally  supposed 


40  ADDRESS. 

to  consist  with  their  lot ;  that  a  sense  of  the 
beautiful  in  nature  and  art  produces  much 
happiness  in  a  portion  of  society,  which 
among  us  is  thought  to  be  disqualified  for 
this  innocent  and  elevated  pleasure  ;  that  the 
teaching  in  Sunday  schools  is  in  some  places 
more  various  than  here,  and  that  a  collection 
of  books,  and  a  degree  of  scientific  know- 
ledge may  be  met  in  cottages  far  inferior 
to  the  dwellings  of  our  husbandmen.  "  In 
short,"  my  friend  adds,  "  I  have  seen  abundant 
proof,  that  intellectual  culture,  as  found  here, 
spreads  its  light  and  comfort  through  a  class, 
that  hardly  exists  at  all  with  us,  or  where  it 
does  exist,  is  generally  supposed  to  labor  un- 
der a  degree  of  physical  wretchedness  incon- 
sistent with  such  culture."  Information  of 
this  kind  should  breathe  new  hope  into  philan- 
thropic labors  for  the  intellectual  and  moral 
life  of  every  class  in  society.  How  much 
may  be  done  in  this  city  to  spread  know- 
ledge, vigor  of  thought,  the  sense  of  beauty, 
the  pleasures  of  the  imagination  and  the  fine 
arts,  and  above  all,  the  influences  of  religion. 


ADDRESS.  4i 

through  our  whole  community !  Were  the 
prosperous  and  educated  to  learn,  that  after 
providing  for  their  families,  they  cannot  bet- 
ter employ  their  possessions  and  influence, 
than  in  forwarding  the  improvement  and  ele- 
vation of  society,  how  soon  would  this  city 
be  regenerated  !  How  many  generous  spirits 
might  be  enlisted  here  by  a  wise  bounty  in 
the  work  of  training  their  fellow-creatures! 
Wealth  cannot  be  better  used,  than  in  res- 
cuing men  of  vigorous  and  disinterested 
minds  from  worldly  toils  and  cares,  in  giving 
them  time  and  opportunity  for  generous  self- 
culture,  and  in  enabling  them  to  devote  their 
whole  strength  and  being  to  a  like  culture  of 
their  race.  The  surest  mark  of  a  true  civili- 
zation is,  that  the  arts  which  minister  to  sen- 
suality decrease,  and  spiritual  employments 
are  multiplied,  or  that  more  and  more  of  the 
highest  ability  in  the  state  is  withdrawn  from 
labors  for  the  animal  life,  and  consecrated 
to  the  work  of  calling  forth  the  intellect,  the 
imagination,  the  conscience,  the  pure  affec- 
tions, the  moral  energy  of  the  community  at 
large,  and  especially,  of  the  young.     What  is 


42  ADDRESS. 

now  wasted  among  us  in  private  show  and 
luxury,  if  conscientiously  and  wisely  devoted 
to  the  furnishing  of  means  of  generous  cul- 
ture to  all  classes  among  us,  would  render 
this  city  the  wonder  and  joy  of  the  whole 
earth.  What  is  thus  wasted  might  supply 
not  only  the  means  of  education  in  the  sci- 
ences, but  in  the  refined  arts.  Music  might 
here  be  spread  as  freely  as  in  Germany,  and 
be  made  a  lightener  of  toil,  a  cheerer  of 
society,  a  relief  of  loneliness,  a  solace  in 
the  poorest  dwellings.  Still  more,  what  we 
now  waste  would  furnish  this  city,  in  a 
course  of  years,  with  the  chief  attractions  of 
Paris,  with  another  Louvre,  and  with  a  Gar- 
den of  Plants,  where  the  gifted  of  all  classes 
might  have  opportunity  to  cultivate  the  love 
of  nature  and  art.  Happily,  the  cause  of  a 
higher  education  begins  to  find  friends  here. 
Thanks  to  that  enlightened  and  noble-minded 
son  of  Boston,  whose  ashes  now  slumber  on 
a  foreign  shore,  but  who  has  left  to  his  birth- 
place a  testimony  of  filial  love,  in  his  munifi- 
cent bequest  for  the  diflfusion  of  hberal  in- 


ADDRESS.  48 

struction  through  this  metropolis.  Honored 
be  the  name  of  Lowell,  the  intellectual  ben- 
efactor of  his  native  city  !  A  community,  di- 
recting its  energies  chiefly  to  a  higher  edu- 
cation of  its  rising  members,  to  a  generous 
development  of  human  nature,  would  achieve 
what  as  yet  has  not  entered  human  thought ; 
and  it  is  for  this  end,  that  we  ought  to  labor. 
Our  show,  and  our  luxury,  how  contemptible 
in  comparison  with  the  improvement  of  our 
families,  neighborhood,  and  race! 

Allow  me  here  to  express  an  earnest  de- 
sire, that  our  legislators,  provoked  to  jeal- 
ousy by  the  spirit  of  improvement  in  other 
states,  and  moved  by  zeal  for  the  ancient 
honor  of  this  Commonwealth,  may  adopt 
some  strong  measures  for  the  advancement 
of  education  among  us.  We  need  an  insti- 
tution for  the  formation  of  better  teachers  ; 
and  until  this  step  is  taken,  we  can  make  no 
important  progress.  The  most  crying  want 
in  this  Commonwealth  is  the  want  of  ac- 
complished teachers.  We  boast  of  our 
schools ;   but  our  schools  do  comparatively 


44  ADDRESS. 

little,  for  want  of  educated  instructors.  With- 
out good  teaching,  a  school  is  but  a  name. 
An  institution  for  training  men  to  train  the 
young,  would  be  a  fountain  of  living  waters, 
sending  forth  streams  to  refresh  present  and 
future  ages.  As  yet,  our  legislators  have 
denied  to  the  poor  and  laboring  classes  this 
principal  means  of  their  elevation.  We  trust 
they  will  not  always  prove  blind  to  the  highest 
interest  of  the  state. 

We  want  better  teachers  and  more  teach- 
ers for  all  classes  of  society,  for  rich  and 
poor,  for  children  and  adults.  We  want  that 
the  resources  of  the  community  should  be 
directed  to  the  procuring  of  better  instruc- 
tors as  its  highest  concern.  One  of  the 
surest  signs  of  the  regeneration  of  society 
will  be,  the  elevation  of  the  art  of  teaching  to 
the  highest  rank  in  the  community.  When 
a  people  shall  learn,  that  its  greatest  benefac- 
tors and  most  important  members  are  men 
devoted  to  the  liberal  instruction  of  all  its 
classes,  to  the  work  of  raising  to  life  its 
buried  intellect,  it  will  have  opened  to  itself 


ADDRESS.  45 

the  path  of  true  glory.  This  truth  is  mak- 
ing its  way.  Socrates  is  now  regarded  as 
the  greatest  man  in  an  age  of  great  men. 
The  name  of  King  has  grown  dim  before 
that  of  Apostle.  To  teach,  whether  by 
word  or  action,  is  the  highest  function  on 
earth.  It  is  commonly  supposed,  that  in- 
structers  are  needed  only  in  the  earlier  years 
of  life.  But  ought  the  education  of  a  human 
being  ever  to  cease  ?  And  may  it  not  always 
be  forwarded  by  good  instruction  ?  Some  of 
us,  indeed,  can  dispense  with  all  teachers 
save  the  silent  book.  But  to  the  great  ma- 
jority, the  voice  of  living  teachers  is  an  in- 
dispensable means  of  cultivation.  The  dis- 
covery and  supply  of  this  want  would  give 
a  new  aspect  to  a  community.  Nothing  is 
more  needed,  than  that  men  of  superior  gifts 
and  of  benevolent  spirit,  should  devote  them- 
selves to  the  instruction  of  the  less  enlight- 
ened classes  in  the  great  end  of  life,  in  the 
dignity  of  their  nature,  in  their  rights  and 
duties,  in  the  history,  laws,  and  institu- 
tions of  their  country,  in  the  philosophy 
6 


46  AD  DRE  S  S. 

of  their  employments,  in  the  laws,  harmonies 
and    productions    of    outward    nature    and 
especially,  in  the  art  of  bringing  up   chil- 
dren in  health  of  body,  and  in  vigor  and  pu- 
rity of  mind.     We  need  a  new  profession  or 
vocation,  the  object  of  which  shall  be  to  wake 
up  the  intellect  in  those  spheres  where  it  is 
now  buried  in  habitual  slumber.     We  honor, 
and  cannot  too  much  honor  the  philanthro- 
pist, who  endows  permanent  institutions  for 
the  relief  of  human  suffering ;  but  not  less 
good,  I  apprehend,  would  be  accomplished 
by   enquiring   for   and   seizing   on    men   of 
superior  ability  and  disinterestedness,  and  by 
sending  them  forth  to  act  immediately  on 
society.     A  philanthropist,  who  should  libe- 
rally  afford   to   one   such   man   the   means 
of  devoting  himself  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
poorer  classes  of  society,  would  confer  inval- 
uable good.     One  gifted  man,  with  his  heart 
in   the   work,  who   should  live   among  the 
uneducated,  to  spread  useful  knowledge  and 
quickening  truth,  by  conversation  and  books, 
by  frank   and   friendly   intercourse,  by  en- 


ADDRESS.  47 

couraging  meetings  for  improvement,  by 
forming  the  more  teachable  into  classes 
and  giving  to  these  the  animation  of  his 
presence  and  guidance,  by  bringing  parents 
to  an  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of 
physical,  intellectual  and  moral  education, 
by  instructing  families  in  the  means  and 
condition  of  health,  by  using,  in  a  word, 
all  the  methods  which  an  active,  gene- 
rous mind  would  discover  or  invent  for 
awakening  intelligence  and  moral  life ;  one 
gifted  man,  so  devoted,  might  impart  a  new 
tone  and  spirit  to  a  considerable  circle  ;  and 
what  would  be  the  result,  were  such  men  to  be 
multiplied  and  combined,  so  that  a  commu- 
nity might  be  pervaded  by  their  influence  ? 
We  owe  much  to  the  writings  of  men  of 
genius,  piety,  science  and  exalted  virtue. 
But  most  of  these  remain  shut  up  in  narrow 
spheres.  We  want  a  class  of  liberal  in- 
structors, whose  vocation  it  shall  be  to  place 
the  views  of  the  most  enlightened  minds 
within  the  reach  of  a  more  and  more  exten- 
sive portion  of  their  fellow-creatures.     The 


48  ADDRESS. 

wealth  of  a  community  should  flow  out  like 
water  for  the  preparation  and  employment  of 
such  teachers,  for  enlisting  powerful  and  gen- 
erous minds  in  the  work  of  giving  impulse  to 
their  race.  Jesus  Christ,  in  instituting  the 
ministry  laid  the  foundation  of  the  intellectual 
and  moral  agency  which  I  now  urge.  On  this 
foundation  we  ought  to  build  more  and  more, 
until  a  life-giving  influence  shall  penetrate  all 
classes  of  society.  What  a  painful  thought 
is  it,  that  such  an  immense  amount  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  power,  of  godlike  energy, 
is  this  very  moment  lying  dead  among  us ! 
Can  we  do  nothing  for  its  resurrection  ? 
Until  this  be  done,  we  may  lop  off  the 
branches  of  intemperance  ;  but  its  root  will 
live  ;  and  happy  shall  we  be  if  its  poisonous 
shade  do  not  again  darken  our  land. — Let  it 
not  be  said  that  the  laborious  can  find  no 
time  for  such  instruction  as  is  now  proposed. 
More  or  less  leisure,  if  sought,  can  be  found 
in  almost  every  life.  JSIor  let  it  be  said  that 
men,  able  and  disposed  to  carry  on  this  work, 
must  not  be  looked  for  in  such  a  world  as 


ADDRESS.  49 

ours.  Christianity,  which  has  wrought  so 
many  miracles  of  beneficence,  which  has 
sent  forth  so  many  apostles  and  martyrs,  so 
many  Howards  and  Clarksons,  can  raise  up 
laborers  for  this  harvest  also.  Nothing  is 
needed  but  a  new  pouring  out  of  the  spirit 
of  Christian  love,  nothing  but  a  new  compre- 
hension of  the  brotherhood  of  the  human 
race,  to  call  forth  efforts  which  seem  impos- 
sibilities in  a  self-seeking  and  self-indulging 
age. 

I  will  add  but  one  more  means  of  giving 
moral  power  and  general  improvement  to 
those  portions  of  the  community,  in  which 
intemperance  finds  its  chief  victims.  We 
must  not  only  promote  education  in  general, 
but  especially  send  among  them  Christian 
instruction.  Christian  teachers,  who  shall  be 
wholly  devoted  to  their  spiritual  welfare. 
And  here,  I  cannot  but  express  my  joy  at 
the  efforts  made  for  establishing  a  ministry 
among  the  poor  in  this  and  other  cities. 
Though  not  sustained  as  it  should  be,  it  yet 
subsists  in  sufficient  vigor  to  show  what  it 


50  ADDRESS. 

can  accomplish.  I  regard  this  institution, 
as  among  the  happiest  omens  of  our  times. 
It  shows,  that  the  spirit  of  him  who  came  to 
seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,  is  not 
dead  among  us.  Christianity  is  the  mighty 
power  before  which  intemperance  is  to  fall. 
Christianity,  faithfully  preached,  assails  and 
withstands  this  vice,  by  appealing,  as  nothing 
else  can,  to  men's  hopes  and  fears,  by  speak- 
ing to  the  conscience  in  the  name  of  the 
Almighty  Judge,  by  speaking  to  the  heart  in 
the  name  of  the  Merciful  Father,  by  proffer- 
ing strength  to  human  weakness  and  pardon  to 
human  guilt,  by  revealing  to  men  an  immor- 
tal nature  within,  and  an  eternal  state  before 
them,  by  spreading  over  this  life  a  bright- 
ness borrowed  from  the  life  to  come,  by 
awakening  generous  affections,  and  binding 
man  by  new  ties  to  God  and  his  race; 
But  Christianity,  to  fulfil  this  part  of  its  mis- 
sion, to  reach  those  who  are  most  exposed 
to  intemperance,  must  not  only  speak  in  the 
churches  where  these  are  seldom  found, 
but  must  enter  their  dwellings  in  the  per- 


ADDRESS.  51 

sons  of  its  ministers,  must  commune  with 
them  in  the  language  of  friendship,  must 
take  their  children  under  its  guardianship 
and  control.  The  ministry  for  the  poor, 
sustained  by  men  worthy  of  the  function, 
will  prove  one  of  the  most  powerful  bar- 
riers ever  raised   against  intemperance. 

The  means  of  suppressing  this  vice,  on 
which  I  have  hitherto  insisted,  have  for  their 
object  to  strengthen  and  elevate  the  whole 
character  of  the  classes  most  exposed  to  in- 
temperance. I  would  now  suggest  a  {ew 
means  fitted  to  accomplish  the  same  end, 
by  diminishing  or  removing  the  temptations 
to  this  vice. 

The  first  means,  which  I  shall  suggest  of 
placing  a  people  beyond  the  temptations  to 
intemperance  is  to  furnish  them  with  the 
means  of  innocent  pleasure.  This  topic,  I 
apprehend,  has  not  been  sufficiently  insisted 
on.  I  feel  its  importance  and  propose  to 
enlarge  upon  it,  though  some  of  the  topics 
which  I  may  introduce  may  seem  to  some 
hardly  consistent  with  the  gravity  of  this  oc- 


52  ADDRESS. 

casion.  We  ought  not,  however,  to  respect 
the  claims  of  that  gravity  which  prevents  a 
faithful  exposition  of  what  may  serve  and 
improve  our  fellow  creatures. 

I  have  said,  a  people  should  be  guarded 
against  temptation  to  unlawful  pleasures  by 
furnishing  the  means  of  innocent  ones.  By 
innocent  pleasures  I  mean  such  as  excite 
moderately ;  such  as  produce  a  cheerful 
frame  of  mind,  not  boisterous  mirth ;  such 
as  refresh,  instead  of  exhausting  the  system  ; 
such  as  recur  frequently,  rather  than  con- 
tinue long ;  such  as  send  us  back  to  our 
daily  duties  invigorated  in  body  and  in  spirit ; 
such  as  we  can  partake  in  the  presence  and 
society  of  respectable  friends  ;  such  as  con- 
sist with  and  are  favorable  to  a  grateful  piety ; 
such  as  are  chastened  by  self-respect,  and 
are  accompanied  with  the  consciousness,  that 
life  has  a  higher  end  than  to  be  amused. 
In  every  community  there  must  be  pleasures, 
relaxations  and  means  of  agreeable  excite- 
ment ;  and  if  innocent  ones  are  not  fur- 
nished, resort  will  be  had  to  criminal.     Man 


ADDRESS.  53 

was  made  to  enjoy,  as  well  as  to  labor ;  and 
the  state  of  society  should  be  adapted  to  this 
principle  of  human  nature.  France,  espec- 
ially before  the  revolution,  has  been  repre- 
sented as  a  singularly  temperate  country ;  a 
fact  to  be  explained,  at  least  in  part,  by  the 
constitutional  cheerfulness  of  that  people, 
and  by  the  prevalence  of  simple  and  inno- 
cent gratifications,  especially  among  the 
peasantry.  Men  drink  to  excess  very  often 
to  shake  off  depression,  or  to  satisfy  the 
restless  thirst  for  agreeable  excitement,  and 
these  motives  are  excluded  in  a  cheerful 
community.  A  gloomy  state  of  society, 
in  which  there  are  few  innocent  recrea- 
tions, may  be  expected  to  abound  in  drunk- 
enness, if  opportunities  are  afforded.  The 
savage  drinks  to  excess,  because  his  hours 
of  sobriety  are  dull  and  unvaried,  because, 
in  losing  the  consciousness  of  his  condi- 
tion and  his  existence,  he  loses  little  which 
he  wishes  to  retain.  The  laboring  classes 
are  most  exposed  to  intemperance,  because 
they  have  at  present  few  other  pleasurable 
7 


54  ADDRESS. 

excitements.  A  man,  who,  after  toil,  has 
resources  of  blameless  recreation,  is  less 
tempted  than  other  men  to  seek  self-obliv- 
ion. He  has  too  many  of  the  pleasures  of 
a  man,  to  take  up  with  those  of  a  brute. 
Thus  the  encouragement  of  simple,  innocent 
enjoyments  is  an  important  means  of  tempe- 
rance. 

These  remarks  show  the  importance  of 
encouraging  the  efforts,  which  have  com- 
menced among  us,  for  spreading  the  accom- 
plishment of  Music  through  our  whole  com- 
munity. It  is  now  proposed  that  this  shall 
be  made  a  regular  branch  in  our  schools ; 
and  every  friend  of  the  people  must  wish 
success  to  the  experiment.  I  am  not  now 
called  to  speak  of  all  the  good  influences  of 
music,  particularly  of  the  strength  which  it 
may  and  ought  to  give  to  the  religious  senti- 
ment, and  to  all  pure  and  generous  emotions. 
Regarded  merely  as  a  refined  pleasure,  it 
has  a  favorable  bearing  on  public  morals. 
Let  taste  and  skill  in  this  beautiful  art  be 
spread  among  us,  and  every  family  will  have 


ADDRESS.  55 

a  new  resource.  Home  will  gain  a  new  at- 
traction. Social  intercourse  will  be  more 
cheerful,  and  an  innocent  public  amusement 
will  be  furnished  to  the  community.  Public 
amusements,  bringing  multitudes  together  to 
kindle  with  one  emotion,  to  share  the  same 
innocent  joy,  have  a  humanizing  influence  ; 
and  among  these  bonds  of  society,  perhaps 
no  one  produces  so  much  unmixed  good  as 
music.  What  a  fulness  of  enjoyment  has  our 
Creator  placed  within  our  reach,  by  surround- 
ing us  with  an  atmosphere  which  may  be 
shaped  into  sweet  sounds  ?  And  yet  this 
goodness  is  almost  lost  upon  us,  through 
want  of  culture  of  the  organ  by  which  this 
provision  is  to  be  enjoyed. 

Dancing  is  an  amusement,  which  has 
been  discouraged  in  our  country  by  many  of 
the  best  people,  and  not  without  reason. 
Dancing  is  associated  in  their  minds  with 
balls  ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  worst  forms  of 
social  pleasure.  The  time  consumed  in  prep- 
aration for  a  ball,  the  waste  of  thought  upon 
it,  the  extravagance  of  dress,  the  late  hours, 


56  ADDRESS. 

the  exhaustion  of  strength,  the  exposure  of 
health,  and  the  languor  of  the  succeeding 
day, —  these  and  other  evils,  connected  with 
this  amusement,  are  strong  reasons  for  ban- 
ishing it  from  the  community.  But  dancing 
ought  not  therefore  to  be  proscribed.  On  the 
contrary,  balls  should  be  discouraged  for  this 
among  other  reasons,  that  dancing,  instead 
of  being  a  rare  pleasure,  requiring  elaborate 
preparation,  may  become  an  every  day 
amusement,  and  may  mix  with  our  common 
intercourse.  This  exercise  is  among  the 
most  healthful.  The  body  as  well  as  the 
mind  feels  its  gladdening  influence.  No 
amusement  seems  more  to  have  a  foundation 
in  our  nature.  The  animation  of  youth  nat- 
urally overflows  in  harmonious  movements. 
The  true  idea  of  dancing  entitles  it  to  favor. 
Its  end  is,  to  realize  perfect  grace  in  motion ; 
and  who  does  not  know,  that  a  sense  of  the 
graceful  is  one  of  the  higher  faculties  of  our 
nature  ?  It  is  to  be  desired,  that  dancing 
should  become  too  common  among  us  to  be 
made  the  object  of  special  preparation  as  in 


ADDRESS.  57 

the  ball ;  that  members  of  the  same  family, 
when  confined  by  unfavorable  weather, 
should  recur  to  it  for  exercise  and  exhilara- 
tion ;  that  branches  of  the  same  family  should 
enliven  in  this  way  their  occasional  meetings  ; 
that  it  should  fill  up  an  hour  in  all  the  as- 
semblages for  relaxation,  in  which  the  young 
form  a  part.  It  is  to  be  desired,  that  this 
accomplishment  should  be  extended  to  the 
laboring  classes  of  society,  not  only  as  an 
innocent  pleasure,  but  as  a  means  of  im- 
proving the  manners.  Why  shall  not  grace- 
fulness be  spread  through  the  whole  com- 
munity ?  From  the  French  nation,  we  learn 
that  a  degree  of  grace  and  refinement  of 
manners  may  pervade  all  classes.  The  phi- 
lanthropist and  Christian  must  desire  to 
break  down  the  partition  walls  between  hu- 
man beings  in  different  conditions ;  and  one 
means  of  doing  this  is,  to  remove  the  con- 
scious awkwardness,  which  confinement  to 
laborious  occupations  is  apt  to  induce.  An 
accomplishment,  giving  free  and  graceful 
movement,  though  a  far  weaker  bond  than 


58  ADDRESS. 

intellectual  or  moral  culture,  still  does  some- 
thing to  bring  those  who  partake  it,  near 
each  other. 

I  approach  another  subject,  on  which  a 
greater  variety  of  opinion  exists  than  on  the 
last,  and  that  is  the  Theatre.  In  its  present 
state,  the  theatre  deserves  no  encourage- 
ment. It  is  an  accumulation  of  immoral  in- 
fluences. It  has  nourished  intemperance 
and  all  vice.  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  say 
that  the  amusement  is  radically,  essentially 
evil.  I  can  conceive  of  a  theatre,  which 
would  be  the  noblest  of  all  amusements,  and 
would  take  a  high  rank  among  the  means  of 
refining  the  taste  and  elevating  the  character 
of  a  people.  The  deep  woes,  the  mighty  and 
terrible  passions,  and  the  sublime  emotions  of 
genuine  tragedy,  are  fitted  to  thrill  us  with 
human  sympathies,  with  profound  interest  in 
our  nature,  with  a  consciousness  of  what  man 
can  do  and  dare  and  suffer,  with  an  awed 
feeling  of  the  fearful  mysteries  of  life. 
The  soul  of  the  spectator  is  stirred  from 
its   depths ;   and  the  lethargy,  in  which  so 


ADDRESS.  59 

many  live,  is  roused,  at  least  for  a  time, 
to  some  intenseness  of  thought  and  sen- 
sibility. The  drama  answers  a  high  pur- 
pose, when  it  places  us  in  the  presence 
of  the  most  solemn  and  striking  events 
of  human  history,  and  lays  bare  to  us 
the  human  heart  in  its  most  powerful,  ap- 
palling, glorious  workings.  But  how  little 
does  the  theatre  accomplish  its  end  ?  How 
often  is  it  disgraced  by  monstrous  distortions 
of  human  nature,  and  still  more  disgraced  by 
profaneness,  coarseness,  indelicacy,  low  wit, 
such  as  no  woman,  worthy  of  the  name,  can 
hear  without  a  blush,  and  no  man  can  take 
pleasure  in  without  self-degradation.  Is  it 
possible  that  a  Christian  and  a  refined  peo- 
ple can  resort  to  theatres,  where  exhibitions 
of  dancing  are  given  fit  only  for  brothels, 
and  where  the  most  licentious  class  in  the 
community  throng  unconcealed  to  tempt  and 
destroy  ?  That  the  theatre  should  be  suf- 
fered to  exist  in  its  present  degradation  is  a 
reproach  to  the  community.  Were  it  to  fall, 
a  better  drama  might  spring  up  in  its  place. 


60  ADDRESS. 

In  the  mean  time,  is  there  not  an  amuse- 
ment, having  an  affinity  with  the  drama, 
which  might  be  usefully  introduced  among 
us  r  I  mean.  Recitation.  A  work  of  gen- 
ius, recited  by  a  man  of  fine  taste,  enthu- 
siasm, and  powers  of  elocution,  is  a  very 
pure  and  high  gratification.  Were  this  art 
cultivated  and  encouraged,  great  numbers, 
now  insensible  to  the  most  beautiful  com- 
positions, might  be  waked  up  to  their  ex- 
cellence and  power.  It  is  not  easy  to 
conceive  of  a  more  eflfectual  way  of  spread- 
ing a  refined  taste  through  a  community. 
The  drama,  undoubtedly,  appeals  more 
strongly  to  the  passions  than  recitation ; 
but  the  latter  brings  out  the  meaning  of 
the  author  more.  Shakespeare,  worthily 
recited,  would  be  better  understood  than  on 
the  stage.  Then,  in  recitation,  we  escape 
the  weariness  of  listening  to  poor  perform- 
ers, who,  after  all,  fill  up  most  of  the  time  at 
the  theatre.  Recitation,  sufficiently  varied, 
so  as  to  include  pieces  of  chaste  wit,  as  well 
of  pathos,  beauty  and  sublimity,  is  adapted 


Aiit)B.tSS.  61 

to  our  present  intellectual  progress,  as  much 
as  the  drama  falls  below  it.  Should  this 
exhibition  be  introduced  among  us  success- 
fully, the  result  would  be,  that  the  power  o( 
recitation  would  be  extensively  called  forth, 
and  this  would  be  added  to  our  social  and 
domestic  pleasures. 

I  have  spoken  in  this  discourse  of  intel- 
lectual culture,  as  a  defence  against  intem- 
perance, by  giving  force  and  elevation  to  the 
mind.  It  also  does  great  good  as  a  source 
of  amusement ;  and  on  this  ground  should 
be  spread  through  the  community.  A  culti- 
vated mind  may  be  said  to  have  infinite 
stores  of  innocent  gratification.  Every  thing 
may  be  made  interesting  to  it,  by  becoming 
a  subject  of  thought  or  enquiry.  Books, 
regarded  merely  as  a  gratification,  are  worth 
more  than  all  the  luxuries  on  earth.  A  taste 
for  literature  secures  cheerful  occupation 
for  the  unemployed  and  languid  hours  of  life  ; 
and  how  many  persons,  in  these  hours,  for 
want  of  innocent  resources,  are  now  impelled 
to  coarse  and  brutal  pleasures.  How  many 
8 


62 


ADD  RE  S  S. 


young  men  can  be  found  in  this  city,  who, 
unaccustomed  to  find  a  companion  in  a  book, 
and  strangers  to  intellectual  activity,  are  al- 
most driven,  in  the  long  dull  evenings  of  vi^in- 
ter,  to  haunts  of  intemperance,  and  depraving 
society.  It  is  one  of  the  good  signs  of  the 
times,  that  lectures  on  literature  and  science 
are  taking  their  place  among  our  public 
amusements,  and  attract  even  more  than 
theatres.  This  is  one  of  the  first  fruits  of 
our  present  intellectual  culture.  What  a 
harvest  may  we  hope  for  from  its  wider  dif- 
fusion ! 

In  these  remarks,  I  have  insisted  on  the 
importance  of  increasing  innocent  gratifica- 
tions in  a  community.  Let  us  become  a 
more  cheerful,  and  we  shall  become  a  more 
temperate  people.  To  increase  our  suscep- 
tiblity  of  innocent  pleasure,  and  to  remove 
many  of  the  sufferings  which  tempt  to  evil 
habits,  it  would  be  well  if  physical,  as  well 
as  moral  education  were  to  receive  greater 
attention.  There  is  a  puny,  half-healthy, 
half-diseased  state  of  the  body,  too  common 


ADDRESS. 


63 


among  us,  which,  by  producing  melancholy 
and  restlessness,  and  by  weakening  the  energy 
of  the  will,  is  a  strong  incitement  to  the  use  of 
hurtful  stimulants.     Many  a  case  of  intem- 
perance has  had  its  origin  in  bodily  infirmity. 
Physical  vigor  is  not  only   valuable  for  its 
own  sake,  but  it  favors  temperance,  by  open- 
ing the  mind  to  cheerful  impressions,  and  by 
removing  those  indescribable  feelings  of  sink- 
ing,  disquiet,  depression,  which  experience 
alone  can  enable  you  to  understand.     I  have 
pleaded  for  mental  culture ;  but  nothing  is 
gained  by  sacrificing  the  body  to  the  mind. 
Let  not  intellectual  education  be  sought  at 
the  expense  of  health.     Let  not  our  children 
in  their  early  years  be  instructed,  as  is  too 
common,  in  close,  unventilated  rooms,  where 
they  breathe   for  hours  a  tainted  air.     Our 
whole  nature  must  be  cared  for.     We  must 
become  a  more  cheerful,  animated  people ; 
and  for  this  end  we  must  propose,  in  our  sys- 
tems of  education,  the  invigoration  of  both 
body  and  mind. 

I  am  aware  that  the  views  now  expressed 


04  ADDRESS. 

may  not  find  unmixed  favor  with  all  the 
friends  of  temperance.  To  some,  perhaps 
to  many,  religion  and  amusement  seem  mu- 
tually hostile,  and  he  who  pleads  for  the  one, 
may  fall  under  suspicion  of  unfaithfulness  to 
the  other.  But  to  fight  against  our  nature, 
is  not  to  serve  the  cause  of  piety  or  sound 
morals.  God,  who  gave  us  our  nature,  who 
has  constituted  body  and  mind  incapable  of 
continued  effort,  who  has  implanted  a  strong 
desire  for  recreation  after  labor,  who  has 
made  us  for  smiles  much  more  than  for 
tears,  who  has  made  laughter  the  most  con- 
tagious of  all  sounds,  whose  Son  hallowed  a 
marriage  feast  by  his  presence  and  sympathy, 
who  has  sent  the  child  fresh  from  his  creat- 
ing hand  to  develope  its  nature  by  active 
gports,  and  who  has  endowed  both  young  and 
old  with  a  keen  susceptibility  of  enjoyment 
from  wit  and  humor, — He,  who  has  thus 
formed  us,  cannot  have  intended  us  for  a 
dull,  monotonous  life,  and  cannot  frown  on 
pleasures  which  solace  our  fatigue  and  re- 
fresh our  spirits  for  coming  toils.     It  is  not 


ADDRKSS.  6iSi 

only  possible  to  reconcile  amusement  with 
duty,  but  to  make  it  the  means  of  more  ani- 
mated exertion,  more  faithful  attachments, 
more  grateful  piety.  True  religion  is  at 
once  authoritative  and  benign.  It  calls  us  to 
suffer,  to  die,  rather  than  to  swerve  a  hair's 
breadth  from  what  God  enjoins  as  right  and 
good ;  but  it  teaches  us,  that  it  is  right  and 
good,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  to  unite  re- 
laxation with  toil,  to  accept  God's  gifts  with 
cheerfulness,  and  to  lighten  the  heart,  in  the 
intervals  of  exertion,  by  social  pleasures. 
A  religion,  giving  dark  views  of  God,  and  in- 
fusing superstitious  fear  of  innocent  enjoy- 
ment, instead  of  aiding  sober  habits,  will,  by 
making  men  abject  and  sad,  impair  their 
moral  force,  and  prepare  them  for  intempe- 
rance as  a  refuge  from  depression  or  des- 
pair. 

Two  other  means  remain  to  be  mentioned 
for  removing  the  temptations  to  intempe- 
rance, and  these  are,  the  discouragement  of 
the  use,  and  the  discouragement  of  the  sale 
of  ardent  spirits  in  the  community. 


66  ADDRESS. 

First,  we  should  discourage  the  use  of  ar- 
dent spirits  in  the  community.  It  is  very 
plain,  too  plain  to  be  insisted  on,  that  to  re- 
move what  intoxicates,  is  to  remove  intoxi- 
cation. In  proportion  as  ardent  spirits  are 
banished  from  our  houses,  our  tables,  our 
hospitalities,  in  proportion  as  those  who 
have  influence  and  authority  in  the  commu- 
nity, abstain  themselves,  and  lead  their  de- 
pendents to  abstain  from  their  use,  in  that 
proportion,  the  occasions  of  excess  must  be 
diminished,  the  temptations  to  it  must  disap- 
pear. It  is  objected,  1  know,  that  if  we  begin 
to  give  up  what  others  will  abuse,  we  must 
give  up  every  thing,  because  there  is  nothing 
which  men  will  not  abuse.  I  grant,  that  it  is 
not  easy  to  define  the  limits  at  which  conces- 
sions are  to  stop.  Were  we  called  on  to  re- 
linquish an  important  comfort  of  life,  because 
others  were  perverting  it  into  an  instrument  of 
crime  and  wo,  we  should  be  bound  to  pause 
and  deliberate  before  we  act.  But  no  such 
plea  can  be  set  up  in  the  case  before  us. 
Ardent  spirits  are  not  an  important  comfort, 


ADDRESS.  67 

and  in  no  degree  a  comfort.  They  give  no 
strength;  they  contribute  nothing  to  health; 
they  can  be  abandoned  without  the  shghtest 
evil.  They  aid  men  neither  to  bear  the  bur- 
den nor  to  discharge  the  duties  of  life  ;  and  in 
saying  this,  I  stop  short  of  the  truth.  It  is 
not  enough  to  say,  that  they  never  do  good  ; 
they  generally  injure.  In  their  moderate  use, 
they  act,  in  general,  unfavorably  on  body 
and  mind.  According  to  respectable  physi- 
cians, they  are  not  digested  like  food,  but 
circulate  unchanged  like  a  poison  through 
the  system.  Ijike  other  poisons,  they  may 
occasionally  benefit  as  medicines ;  but  when 
made  a  beverage  by  the  healthy,  they  never 
do  good ;  they  generally  are  pernicious. 
They  are  no  more  intended  by  providence 
for  drink,  than  opium  is  designed  for  food. 
Consider  next,  that  ardent  spirits  are  not 
only  without  benefit,  when  moderately  used, 
but  that  they  instigate  to  immoderate  use ; 
that  they  beget  a  craving,  a  feverish  thirst, 
which  multitudes  want  power  to  resist ;  that 
in  some  classes  of  society,  great  numbers  be- 


68  ADDRESS. 

come  their  victims,  are  bereft  by  them  of  rea- 
son, are  destroyed  in  body  and  soul,  destroyed 
here  and  hereafter  ;  that  famihes  are  thus 
made  desolate,  parents  hurried  to  a  prema- 
ture grave,  and  children  trained  up  to  crime 
and  shame.  Consider  all  this,  and  then  judge, 
as  in  the  sight  of  God,  whether  you  are  not 
bound  to  use  your  whole  influence  in  banish- 
ing the  use  of  spirits,  as  one  of  the  most 
pernicious  habits  from  the  community.  If 
you  were  to  see,  as  a  consequence  of  this  bev- 
erage, a  loathsome  and  mortal  disease  break- 
ing out  occasionally  in  all  ranks,  and  sweeping 
away  crowds  in  the  most  depressed,  would  you 
not  lift  up  your  voices  against  it ;  and  is  not 
an  evil  more  terrible  than  pestilence,  the  ac- 
tual, frequent  result  of  the  use  of  spirituous 
liquors  ?  That  use  you  are  bound  to  dis- 
courage ;  and  how  ?  By  abstaining  wholly 
yourselves,  by  excluding  ardent  spirits  wholly 
from  your  tables,  by  giving  your  whole 
weight  and  authority  to  abstinence.  This 
practical,  solemn  testimony,  borne  by  the 
good  and  respectable,  cannot  but  spread  a 


i  6  t)  R  E  S  S.  6^ 

healthful  public  sentiment  through  the  whole 
community.     This  is  especially  our  duty  at 
the  present  moment,  when  a  great  combined 
eflfort  of  religious  and  philanthropic  men  is 
directed   against  this  evil,  and  when  an  im-^ 
pression  has  been  made  on  the  community^ 
surpassing  the  most  sanguine  hopes.     At  the 
present  moment,  he  who  uses  ardent  spirits, 
or  introduces  them  into  his  hospitalities,  vir- 
tually  arrays  himself  against  the   cause  of 
temperance  and    humanity.     He  not  merely 
gives  an  example  to  his  children  and  his  do- 
mestics,  which  he  may  one  day  bitterly  rue  ^ 
ho  withstands  the  good  in  their  struggles  for 
the  virtue  and  happiness  of  mankind.     He 
forsakes  the  standard  of  social  reform,  and 
throws  himself  into  the  ranks  of  its  foes. 

After  these  remarks,  it  will  follow,  that  we 
should  discourage  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits^ 
What  ought  not  to  be  used  as  a  beverage, 
ought  not  to  be  sold  as  such.  What  the 
good  of  the  community  requires  us  to  expel^ 
no  man  has  a  moral  right  to  supply.  That 
intemperance  is  dreadfully  multiplied  by  the? 
9 


70  ADDRESS. 

number  of  licensed  shops  for  the  retailing  of 
spirits,  we  all  know.     That  these  should  be 
shut,  every  good  man  desires.     Law,  how- 
ever, cannot  shut  them  except  in  a  limited 
extent,  or  only  in  a  few  favored  parts  of  the 
country.     Law  is  here  the  will  of  the  people, 
and  the  legislature  can  do  little,  unless  sus- 
tained by  the  public  voice.     To  form,  then, 
an  enhghtened  and  vigorous  public  sentiment, 
which  will  demand  the   suppression  of  these 
licensed  nurseries  of  intemperance,  is  a  duty 
to  which  every  good  man  is  bound,  and  a 
service  in  which  each  may  take  a  share.  And 
not  only  should  the  vending  of  spirits  in  these 
impure  haunts  be  discouraged ;  the  vending 
of  them  by  respectable  men  should  be  re- 
garded  as  a  great  public  evil.     The  retailer 
takes   shelter  under    the    wholesale    dealer, 
from   whom    he    purchases   the    pernicious 
draught ;  and  has  he  not  a  right  so  to  do  ? 
Can  we  expect  that  he  should  shrink  from 
spreading   on   a   small    scale,    what   others 
spread  largely  without  rebuke  ?     Can  we  ex- 
pect his  conscience  to  be  sensitive,  when  he 


ADDRESS. 


71 


treads  in  the  steps  of  men  of  reputation? 
Of  the  character  of  those  who  vend  spirits,  I 
do  not  judge.     They  grew  up  in  the  belief 
of  the  innocence  of  the  traffic,  and  this  con- 
viction  they    may    sincerely   retain.       But 
error,  though  sincere,  is  error  still.     Right 
and  wrong  do  not  depend  on  human  judg- 
ment or  human  will.     Truth  and  duty  may 
be  hidden  for  ages;   but  they   remain- un- 
shaken  as   God's  throne ;  and  when^  in  the 
course   of  his  providence,    they   are  made 
known  to  one  or  a  few,  they  must  be  pro- 
claimed, whoever  may  be  opposed.     Truth, 
truth,  is  the  hope  of  the  world.     Let  it  be 
spoken  in  kindness,  but  with  power.  -"^ 

Some  of  the  means  of  withstanding  intem- 
perance have  now  been  stated.  Other  top- 
ics, were  there  time,  I  should  be  glad  to  offer 
to  your  attention.  But  I  must  pause. — I 
will  only  add,  that  every  lover  of  his  race 
has  strong  encouragement  to  exert  himself 
for  the  prevention  of  intemperance.  The 
striking  success  of  societies  instituted  for 
this   end  should   give  animation  and  hope. 


721  ADDRESS. 

But   even   had  these  associations  and  these 
efforts  failed,  I  should  not  despair.     From 
the  very  terribleness  of  the  evil,  we  may  de- 
rive incitement  and  hope  in  our  labors  for  its 
suppression.     It   cannot  be,  that   God   has 
created  moral  beings  to  become  brutes,  or 
placed    them   in   circumstances    irresistibly 
impelling  them  to  this  utter  renunciation  of 
the  proper  good  of  their  nature.     There  are, 
there   must  be  means  of  prevention  or  cure 
for  this  deadliest  moral  disease.  The  unhappi-^ 
jiess  is,  that  too  many  of  us,  who  call  ourselves 
the  friends  of  temperance,  have  not  virtue  and 
love  enough  to  use  powerfully  the  weapons 
of  the  spirit,  for  the  succor  of  the   tempted 
and  fallen.     We  are  ourselves  too  sensual,  to 
rescue  others   from  sensuality.     The  differ^ 
enpe  between  us  and  the  intemperate   man 
is  too  small,  to  fit  us   for   his   deliverance. 
But  that  there  are  means  of  withstanding  in* 
temperance ;   that  it  is  the  design  and  ten* 
d^ncy  of  Christianity  to  raise  up  men  fit  and 
worthy  to  wield  these  means  ;  and  that  there 
are  always  some,  who  are  prepared  to  lead 


*»H%, 


ADDRESS.  73 


the  way  in  this  holy  work,  I  cannot  doubt. 
I  see,  indeed,  a  terrible  energy  in  human  ap- 
petites and  passions.  But  I  do  not  faint. 
Truth  is  mightier  than  error ;  virtue,  than 
vice  ;  God,  than  the  evil  man.  In  contend- 
ing earnestly  against  intemperance,  we  have 
the  help  and  friendship  of  Him  who  is 
Almighty.  We  have  allies  in  all  that  is 
pure,  rational,  divine  in  the  human  soul,  in 
the  progressive  intelligence  of  the  age,  in 
whatever  elevates  public  sentiment,  in  re- 
ligion, in  legislation,  in  philosophy,  in  the 
yearnings  of  the  parent,  in  the  prayers  of  the 
Christian,  in  the  teachings  of  God's  house, 
in  the  influences  of  God's  Spirit.  With 
these  allies,  friends,  helpers,  let  good  men 
not  despair,  but  be  strong  in  the  faith,  that, 
in  due  time,  they  shall  reap,  if  they  faint  not. 


#*.« 


^ 


NOTES. 


NOTE   A. 

1  was  requested,  just  before  delivering  this  discourse,  tcf 
point  out  one  cause  of  intemperance  in  this  city,  and  that 
is,  the  lateness  of  the  hours  to  which  our  evening  parties  are 
continued.  In  consequence  of  this  usage,  a  valuable  por- 
tion of  the  community,  the  hackney  coachmen,  are  exposed 
to  the  intensest  cold,  to  the  exhaustion  attending  want  of 
rest,  and  to  other  unfavorable  influences,  which  too  often 
issue  in  ruinous  habits.  It  is  morally  wrong,  to  subject 
any  class  of  society  to  such  severe  temptations.  These 
late  hours  are,  in  every  view,  objectionable.  They  do 
much  to  disturb  the  order  of  families.  The  domestics 
must  sit  up  late.  Of  course  the  habit  of  early  rising  is  in- 
terfered with ;  domestic  religion  is  excluded ;  and  the 
whole  day  is  often  yielded  to  languor  and  listlessness,  a 
just  punishment  of  the  dissipation  of  the  preceding  night. 
Physicians  condemn  this  custom  as  injurious  to  health,  es- 
pecially to  the  health  of  young  women.  This  usage  is  the 
more  to  be  regretted,  as  it  is  one  of  the  manifestations  of 
that  propensity  to  servile  imitation  of  the  old  world,  which 
exposes  our  country  to  the  ridicule  of  foreigners,  which 
takes  from  it  the  freshness,  originality,  simplicity,  belong- 
ing to  a  new  people,  and  which  is  singularly  hostile  to  the 
«pirit  of  a  republic.  In  England,  where  an  aristocracy, 
loaded  with  wealth,  and  disdaining  labor,  can  aiTord  to 


"76  NOTES. 

spend  much  of  the  day  in  bed,  it  is  not  wonderful,  that 
late  hours  should  become  a  badge  of  rank  and  fashion. 
But  in  a  country  like  this,  where  almost  all  must  work  for 
a  living,  and  are  bound  to  be  early  at  work,  an  imi' 
tation  of  England,  in  this  particular,  is  as  preposterous  as 
it  is  culpable.  We  boast  of  national  independence.  Shall 
we  never  have  moral  independence  ?  To  return  to  the 
evil  complained  of  in  the  begining  of  this  note.  Coach- 
men ought  not  to  be  exposed  as  they  are.  It  should  be  laid 
down  as  a  rule,  by  those  who  attend  parties,  that  they  will 
take  leave  at  the  moment,  wiien  the  coach,  agreeably  to 
their  orders,  arrives  at  the  door.  Their  humanity  should 
plead  for  the  men  and  horses  shivering  at  midnight  in  the 
street,  in  (he  depth  of  a  northern  winter. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  frivolous  and  fashionable  people, 
who  have  no  comprehension  of  the  purpose  or  true  happi- 
ness of  life,  should  have  so  much  the  control  of  our  plea- 
sures, should  dictate  our  dress,  expenses,  hours,  &c. 
How  is  it,  that  in  an  age  of  intellectual  refinement,  we 
cannot  have  delightful  social  interviews  without  wasteful 
show  1  The  retrenchment  of  what  is  worse  than  thrown 
away  in  our  social  intercourse,  would  furnish  our  city  with 
the  noblest  works  of  art,  and  with  means  of  improvement 
by  which  every  class  would  be  carried  forward. 

It  is  said,  that  our  evening  parties  are  open  to  the  charge 
of  favoring  intemperance.  It  is  said  on  the  best  authority,, 
that  the  good  habits  of  not  a  few,  esp)ecially  of  the  young, 
are  endangered  by  the  freer  use  of  the  sparkling  wines, 
which  fashion  has  sanctioned. — I  think  it  right  and  useful 
to  notice  these  particulars,  as  they  have  bee-  suggested  to 
me  by  the  friends  of  temperance.  At  the  same  time,  I  do 
not  rely  on  the  exposure  of  particular  abuses,  as  the  chief 
means  of  their  cure.     Evil  usages  deserve  notice,  chie% 


K  O  T  E  s.  77 

fis  they  indicate  a  want  of  principle,  a  radical  corruption  in 
the  community  ;  and  the  great  means  of  removing  them, 
is  not  to  denounce  them  singly,  or  in  mass,  but  to  strike  at 
their  root,  to  lay  bare  the  deep  worldliness,  sensuality,  and 
impiety  from  which  they  spring,  and  to  regenerate  society 
by  breathing  more  and  more  widely  into  individuals,  the 
pure,  disinterested,  fearless  spirit  of  Christianity. 


^OTE  B. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  causes  of  intemperance  which  are' 
found  in  our  state  of  society.  I  should  wrong,  however,  the! 
community  to  which  I  belong,  were  I  to  leave  the  impres-" 
sion,  that  oiir  social  condition  offers  nothing  but  incite-' 
inents  to  this  vice.  It  presents  obstacles  as  well  as  affords 
facilities  to  it.  And  this  ought  to  be  understood,  as  an  en-^ 
couragement  to  the  efforts,  which,  According  to  the  preced-> 
ing  remarks,  we  are  bound  to  make  for  its  suppression. 
The  growth  of  intelligence  among  us,  is  a  powerful  antag- 
onist to  intemperance.  In  proportion  as  we  awaken  and 
invigorate  men's  faculties,  we  help  therni  to  rise  above  at 
brutal  life  ;  we  take  them  out  of  the  power  of  the  present 
moment,  enlarge  their  foresight,  give  them  the  means  of 
Success  in  life,  open  to  them  sources  of  innocent  pleasure, 
and  prepare  them  to  bear  part  in  respectable  society.  It 
is  true,  that  intelligence  or  knowledge  is  not  virtue.  It 
may  not  overcome  selfishness  ;  but  it  makes  our  self-love 
tfrisdr  and  more  reflecting,  gives  us  a  better  understanding 
of  our  own  interests,"  teaches  prudence  if  not  generosity^ 
10 


78  NOTES. 

and  in  this  way,  is  a  powerful  guardian  against  ruinous  ex- 
cess. We  have  another  defence  against  intemperance  in 
our  freedom.  Freedom  nourishes  self  respect,  and  by  re- 
moving all  obstructions  to  exertion,  by  opening  to  men  the 
means  of  bettering  their  lot,  favors  an  animated,  hopeM 
industry,  thus  rescuing  a  people  from  depression,  despon- 
dence and  languor,  which  are  among  the  chief  temptations 
to  brutalizing  excess.  It  is  indeed  said,  that  freedom  gen- 
erates all  forms  of  licentiousness,  and,  consequently,  intem- 
perance. But  it  is,  I  believe,  a  well-established  fact,  that 
this  vice  has  decreased  since  our  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence. The  habits  and  manners  of  the  last  generation 
were  more  perilous  to  temperance  than  our  own.  Social 
intercourse  was  more  deformed  by  excess.  Men  in  mature 
life  visited  taverns,  and  the  young  could  not  meet,  without 
the  danger  of  drowning  reason  in  wine.  It  is  a  false  no- 
tion, that  we  are  wholly  indebted  for  our  present  reform  in 
this  particular  to  temperance  societies.  These  have  done 
great  good,  and  deserve  great  praise  ;  but  the  influence 
which  is  now  carrying  us  on  preceded  them.  They  are  its 
effects,  not  causes.  An  important  change  of  habits  had 
commenced  before  their  institution,  and  this  seems  to  me 
an  important  view,  and  one  of  the  chief  encouragements  to 
joint  and  individual  exertion  for  the  suppression  of  this 
vice.  Did  I  believe,  that  our  present  social  condition  of- 
fered nothing  but  materials  to  intemperance,  that  it  ex- 
cluded all  contrary  influences,  and  that  our  whole  hope  for 
stemming  this  evil  rested  on  the  temperance  societies,  I 
should  be  tempted  to  despond.  Such  societies  can  avail 
little,  except  when  they  act  in  concurrence  with  causes  ii> 
the  condition  of  society.  Such  causes  exist,  and  one  great 
use  of  temperance  societies  is  to  bring  them  into  more 
energetic  and  extensive  action. 


NOTES.  79 


NOTE  C. 

I  have  not  insisted  on  one  of  the  means  of  temperance 
on  which  great  stress  has  been  laid,  that  is,  the  influence 
of  Public  Opinion.     To  bring  this  to  bear  against  intempe- 
rance, has  been  regarded  by  not  a  few  as  the  chief  method 
of  subduing  the  evil.    Too  much,  I  think,  is  hoped  from  it. 
One  obvious  remark   is,  that  the  classes  most  exposed  to 
intemperance  are  removed  very  much  from  the  power  of 
public  opinion.     But  passing  over  this,  I  think  we  gene- 
rally look  to  this  influence  for  more  than  it  can  accom- 
plish.    We  lay  upon  it  a  greater  weight  than  it  can  bear. 
Public  opinion  may  even  work  against  the  cause  which  it 
is  meant  to  support,  when  made  a  substitute  for  individual 
exertion.     A  man,  temperate  because  public  opinion  exacts 
it,  has  not  the  virtue  of  temperance,  nor  a  stable  ground  of 
temperate  habits.     The  remark  is  especially  applicable  to 
these  times.     Opinion,  in  former  days,  was  more  perma- 
nent than   at  present.     There  were  few  or  no  causes  in 
operation  to  unsettle  general    convictions.     Society  was 
cast  into  fixed  forms.     Ages  past  away,  and  slight  changes 
were  seen  in  manners,  and  in  modes  of  thinking.     But  the 
present  is  a  revolutionary  age.     Society,  breaking  from  its 
old  moorings,  is  tossed  on  a  restless  and  ever-stormy  ocean. 
Opinion  no  longer  affbrds  that  steady  guidance,  which  in 
former  times  supplied  the  place  of  private  judgment  and 
individual  principle.     There  is  no  truth,  which  sophistry 
does  not  now  assail,  no  falsehood  which  may  not  become  a 
party  bond.     The  great  work  to  which  religion  and  be- 
nevolence are  now  called,  is  not  to  sweep  away  multitudes 
by  storm,  not  to  lay  on  men  the  temporary,  brittle  chains 
of  opinion,  but  to  fix  deep,  rational  conviction  in  individ- 


so  NOTES. 

uals,  to  awaken  the  reason  to  eternal  truth  and  the  con- 
pcience  to  immutable  duty.  We  are  apt  to  labor  to  secure 
to  virtue  the  power  of  fashion.  We  must  secure  to  it  the 
power  of  conviction.  It  is  the  essence  of  fashion  to 
change.  Nothing  is  sure  but  truth.  No  other  foundation 
can  sustain  a  permanent  reform.  The  temperance,  which 
rests  on  other  men's  opinions  and  practice,  is  not  a  man's 
own  virtue,  but  a  reflection  of  what  exists  around  him. 
It  lies  on  the  surface.     It  has  not  penetrated  the  soul. 

That  opinion  may  exert  a  great  and  useful  influence, 
is  not  denied  ;  but  it  must  be  enlightened  opinion,  appeal- 
ing to  the  reason  and  the  conscience  of  the  individual ; 
not  to  passion,  interest,  or  fear,  nor  proscribing  all  who 
differ.  We  want  public  opinion  to  bear  on  tempe- 
rance, but  to  act  rationally,  generously,  not  passionately, 
tyrannically,  and  with  the  spirit  of  persecution.  Men  can- 
not  be  driven  into  temperance.  Let  the  temperate  become 
a  party,  and  breathe  the  violence  of  party,  and  they  will 
raise  up  a  party  as  violent  as  their  own.  The  friends  of 
truth  must  not  call  passion  to  their  aid,  for  the  erroneous 
and  vicious  have  a  greater  stock  of  passion  than  they,  and 
can  wield  this  weapon  to  more  effect.  It  is  not  by  num- 
bers or  a  louder  cry,  that  good  men  are  to  triumph  over 
the  bad.  Their  goodness,  their  consciousness  of  truth, 
and  universal  love  must  be  manifested  in  clear,  strong,  be- 
nevolent appeals  to  the  reason  and  heart.  They  must 
speak  in  the  tone  of  the  friend  of  their  race.  This  will  do 
infinitely  more  than  the  clamor  of  hosts. 

It  seems  to  me  an  important  remark,  that  public  opinion 
cannot  do  for  virtue  what  it  does  for  vice.  It  is  the  essence 
of  virtue  to  look  above  opinion.  Vice  is  consistent  with, 
and  very  often  strengthened  by  entire  subserviency  to  it. 


NOTES.  81 

It  is  a  motive  to  be  cautiously  used,  because  the  mind, 
which  passively  yields  to  it,  will  find  it  a  debilitating, 
rather  than  an  invigorating  influence.  The  moral  inde- 
pendence which  can  withstand  public  sentiment,  is  men's 
only  safety.  Whenever  public  sentiment  shall  be  enlight- 
ened enough  to  promote  this  superiority  to  itself,  it  will  be 
a  noble  spring.  In  proportion  as  it  wars  against  this  self- 
subsistence,  it  subverts  the  only  foundation  of  substantial, 
enduring  reform. 

It  is  sometimes  very  hazardous  to  attempt  to  extirpate  a 
common  vice  by  making  it  disgraceful,  and  passing  on  it  a 
sentence  of  outlawry.  If,  indeed,  the  vice  be  confined  to 
the  poor  and  obscure,  the  brand  of  infamy  may  easily  be 
fixed  on  it  ;  but  when  it  spreads  higher  and  is  taken  under 
the  protection  of  fashion,  it  cannot  only  parry  the  weapon 
of  disgrace  in  the  hand  of  its  adversaries,  but  turn  this 
against  them.  Fashion  is  singularly  expert  in  the  use  of 
ridicule.  What  it  wants  in  reason,  it  can  supply  in  sneers 
and  laughter.  Sometimes  it  puts  on  indiflference  as  a  coat 
of  mail.  It  has  especially  the  art  of  attaching  the  idea  of 
vulgarity  to  a  good  cause,  and  what  virtue  has  courage 
to  encounter  this  most  dreaded  form  of  opinion  ? 


NOTE  D. 


I  have  expressed  in  the  preceding  address,  the  senti- 
ments of  respect  and  gratitude  due  to  the  munificence  of 
the  late  John  Lowell,  Jr.,  who  placed  by  will  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  ample  fortune  in  the  hands  of  a  trustee  for  the 


82  NOTES. 

purpose  of  securing  the  means  of  liberal  instruction  to  this 
city.  In  so  doing  he  has  brought  fresh  honor  to  a  name 
already  distinguished  among  us.  I  was  not  particularly 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Lowell ;  but  his  friends  bear  testi- 
mony to  the  fidelity  with  which  he  cultivated  his  powers, 
to  his  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  to  the  strength  of  his  moral 
and  religious  principles.  I  have  been  favored  by  the 
trustee  with  some  extracts  from  his  will,  and  am  happy  to 
lay  them  before  the  public. 

The  bequest  will  be  about  225,000  dollars. 

"  This  bequest,"  to  use  the  language  of  the  testator,  "  is 
for  the  maintenance  and  support  of  public  lectures  to  be 
delivered  in  said  Boston,  upon  Philosophy,  Natural  His- 
tory, the  Arts  and  Sciences,  or  any  of  them  as  the  said 
trustee,  or  his  successor  in  said  trust,  shall  from  time  to  time 
deem  expedient  for  the  promotion  of  the  moral,  intellectual 
and  physical  instruction  or  education  of  the  citizens  of  the 
said  city  of  Boston  ;  giving  to  the  trustee  or  trustees,  for 
the  time  being,  full  power  and  authority  to  prescribe  such 
terms  or  regulations  for  the  admission  to  the  said  lectures, 
as  they  may  think  expedient  to  the  public  good.  The 
said  trustee  or  trustees  being  in  all  respects  governed  by 
any  directions  I  may  leave  in  writing." 

The  directions  on  the  subject  of  the  lectures  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  1st.     In  relation  to  the  subjects. 

"  As  the  most  entire  and  most  important  part  of  true 
Philosophy  appears  to  me  to  be  that,  which  shows  the  con- 
nexion between  God's  revelation  and  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil  implanted  by  Him  in  our  nature;  I  wish  a 
course  of  lectures  to  be  given  on  natural  religion,  showing 
its  conformity  to  that  of  our  Saviour.  For  the  more  per- 
fect demonstration   of  those   moral    and    religious    pre- 


M. 


NOTES.  83- 


cepts,  by  which  alone,  as  I  believe,  men  can  be  sure  of 
happiness  in  this  world  and  in  that  to  come,  I  wish  a 
course  of  lectures  to  be  delivered  on  the  historical  and  in- 
ternal evidences  in  favor  of  Christianity.  *  *  I  wish 
all  disputed  points  of  faith  and  ceremony  to  be  avoided, 
and  the  attention  of  the  lecturers  to  be  directed  to  the 
moral  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  stating  their  opinions  if  they 
will,  but  not  engaging  in  controversy,  even  on  the  subject 
of  the  penalties  of  disobedience. 

"  As  the  prosperity  of  my  native  land,  New-England, 
which  is  sterile  and  unproductive,  must  depend  hereafter, 
as  it  has  heretofore  depended,  first,  on  the  moral  qualities, 
and  secondly,  on  the  intelligence  and  information  of  its  in-' 
habitants  ;  I  am  desirous  of  trying  to  contribute  towards 
this  second  object  also;  and  I  wish  courses  of  lectures  to 
be  delivered  on  physics  and  chemistry  with  their  applica- 
tion to  the  arts,  also  on  botany,  zoology  and  mineralogy 
connected  with  their  particular  utility  to  man. 

"  After  the  establishment  of  these  courses  of  lectures, 
should  disposable  funds  remain,  or  in  process  of  time  be 
accumulated  in  the  hands  of  the  trustee,  (for  there  is  a  pro- 
vision in  my  will  touching  a  gradual  accumulation  of  said 
funds,)  then  the  trustee  may  appoint  courses  of  lectures  to 
be  delivered  on  the  literature  and  eloquence  of  our  lan^ 
guage  and  even  on  those  of  foreign  nations,  if  he  see  fit  } 
he  may  also  from  time  to  time  establish  lectures  on  any 
subject  that  in  his  opinion  the  wants  and  taste  of  the  age 
may  demand.       *     * 

"2d.     On  the  appointment  and  duties  of  lecturers. 

"  As  infidel  opinions  appear  to  me  injurious  to  society, 
and  easily  to  insinuate  themselves  into  a  man's  disserta- 
tions on  any  subject,  however  remote  it  may  be  from  the 
subject  of  religion  ;  no  man  ought  to  be  appointed  a  lee-" 


ft 


84  NOTES. 


turer  who  is  not  willing  to  declare  and  who  does  tiot  pre* 
viously  declare  his  belief  in  the  Divine  Revelation  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  leaving  the  interpretation  thereof 
to  his  own  conscience. 

"  A  lecturer  may  be  taken  on  trial ;  but  no  one  shall  be 
appointed  for  a  longer  time  than  four  years  ;  nor  from  senti- 
ments of  delicacy  ought  his  appointment  to  be  renewed 
when  he  becomes  incapable  or  superannuated. 

"  Each  lecturer  ought  to  deliver  two  courses  of  lectures 
on  the  subject  for  which  he  is  appointed,  one  popular,  to 
be  delivered  three  times  a  week,  at  an  hour  convenient  to 
the  public,  between  the  beginning  of  November  and  that 
of  May;  the  latter  more  abstruse,  recondite  and  particular, 
to  be  delivered  more  frequently  and  at  such  times  as  may 
suit  the  convenience  of  those  whose  wish  it  is  thoroughly 
to  examine  and  understand  the  subject  of  the  lecture. 
Every  lecturer,  for  whatever  time  appointed,  shall  be  liable 
to  be  removed  by  the  trustee  for  incapacity,  neglect  or 
omititig  to  perform  his  engagement. 

"  The  trustee  shall  prescribe  such  rules  touching  the 
time,  place  and  mode  of  delivering  the  various  courses  of 
lectures  as  he  thinks  fit,  and  may  change  them  at  his  dis-- 
cretion.  He  shall  require  of  every  person  attending  the 
lectures  to  be  neatly  dressed  and  of  an  orderly  behaviour. 
The  popular  courses  always,  and  the  others  when  practica- 
ble, are  designed  for  females  as  well  as  males. 

"  It  will  of  course  be  understood  that  by  any  direction 
on  the  subject  of  infidel  ideas  in  the  former  part  of  this  ar- 
ticle, I  am  far  from  wishing  to  express  or  encourage  an  in- 
tolerant spirit.  I  wish  to  do  neither  ;  but  holding  certain 
opinions  that  I  believe  beneficial  to  society,  I  am  desirous 
of  promoting  them,  and  I  leave  all  judgment  to  God,  who 
alone  discerns  the  right  at  all  times." 


NOTES.  85 

It  is  hoped,  that  this  munificent  bequest  of  Mr  Lowell 
will  prove  the  beginning  of  benefaction^  for  spreading 
through  our  community  the  means  of  higher  instruction. 
There  are  many  objects  for  the  patronage  of  men,  who  have 
wealth  beyond  what  the  happiness  of  their  families  requires, 
and  who  love  and  would  elevate  tliis  city.  We  need 
here  an  extensive  collection  of  natural  history,  a  mu- 
seum, in  which  all  the  kingdoms  of  nature  would  be  rep- 
resented, and  which  should  afford  to  every  inquisitive  mind 
among  us  the  means  of  knowledge  in  this  department.  We 
need,  too,  a  gallery  of  paintings,  sculpture,  &c.,  in  which 
by  means  of  originals,  copies,  casts  and  models,  all  the 
great  works  of  genius  in  the  fine  arts  should  be  placed  in 
our  reach.  Such  a  museum  and  gallery,  if  opened  to  the 
public,  would  be  thronged  ;  and  lectures  illustrating  them, 
would  draw  intelligent  hearers  from  all  classes.  Estab- 
lishments of  this  kind  would  be  at  once  attractions  to 
strangers,  and  sources  of  increasing  delight,  refinement 
and  instruction  to  our  own  citizens.  One  of  the  distinc- 
tions of  Boston,  is  the  eagerness  with  which  such  exhibi- 
tions are  visited.  Is  it  not  time  to  begin  with  spirit  these 
and  similar  establishments,  which  would  shed  an  enduring 
glory  over  our  city  1 


111 


OFFICERS  OF  THE 

MASSACHUSETTS  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY. 


PRESIDENT, 

JOHN    C.    WARREN, 

VICE     PRESIDENT, 

HORACE   MANN. 

RECORDING    SECRETARY, 

WALTER  CHANNING. 

TREASURER, 

CHARLES  BROWN. 

COUNSELLORS, 

MOSES  GRANT, 
JOSHUA  B.  FLINT, 
SAMUEL  K.   LOTHROP, 
WILLIAM    W.   STONE. 


APPENDIX. 


Simultaneous  Meetings  of  the  friends  of  temperance 
over  the  civilized  world,  have  been  held  for  some 
years  past,  in  consequence  of  a  suggestion  of  the  Exec- 
utive Committee  of  the  American  Temperance  Society. 
The  Council  of  the  Massachusetts  Temperance  Society 
have  annually  called  the  attention  of  the  inhabitants  of 
this  Commonwealth  to  this  occasion,  and  now  publish 
the  doings  of  the  last  meeting  in  Boston. 

The  Council  regard  these  meetings  with  peculiar  in- 
terest. They  know  of  none  more  important.  What  is 
there  more  striking  in  the  history  of  this  cause,  than 
this  annual  coming  together  of  its  friends  in  all  coun- 
tries to  which  its  doctrines  have  penetrated  ?  They 
meet  to  aid  each  other  in  their  common  labor — to  min- 
gle their  congratulations  and  their  thanksgiving  for  the 
past,  their  hopes  and  their  prayers  for  the  future, — to 
manifest  every  where  their  interest  in  what  they  believe 
to  be  a  good  work,  and,  by  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
and  light,  to  add  to  the  numbers  of  its  friends. 

To  aid,  more  especially  to  conduct  such  a  reform  is 
no  light  undertaking.  There  must  be  in  it,  zeal  direct- 
ed by  knowledge,  energy  by  kindness,  and  independ- 


88  APPENDIX. 

ence  with  respect.  There  must  come  to  it  deep  moral 
convictions.  The  motive  may  be  from  without,  but  it 
must  be  a  moral  motive,  the  love  of  man,  an  enlightened 
interest  in  his  whole  welfare,  a  self-sacrificing  humanity. 
This  cause  declares  intemperance  to  be  the  greatest  of 
evils — the  means  by  which  it  is  produced,  as  wholly  op- 
posed to  human  progress  and  happiness, — and  the  mak- 
ing, and  the  distributing  these  means  as  morally  wrong* 
On  these  few  and  now  generally  admitted  truths,  does 
this  whole  reform  rest,  and  the  labors  of  its  active 
friends  should  all  tend  to  their  full  development  and 
wide  diffusion.  For  these  ends  are  meetings  called, 
large  assemblies  of  people  collected,  and  the  spiritual 
nature  addressed  and  called  upon,  to  give  to  this  cause 
support  and  life.  It  is  an  internal  reform,  or  rather  its 
agency  is  within,  and  declares  itself  by  what  men  do. 
External  conduct  is  here  what  it  always  is,  the  outward 
manifestation,  the  visible  expression  of  internal  moral 
convictions,  operating  powerfully  as  example,  and  al- 
ways doing  good. 

An  objection  of  apparent  weight  has  been  frequently 
urged  by  those  who  have  not  sympathized  with  these 
labors.  It  is,  that  the  reform  has  availed  itself  of  com- 
bination, of  union  among  its  friends,  instead  of  finding  its 
principal  means  in  the  enforcement  of  the  highest  mo- 
tives, and  in  the  moral  convictions  which  might  grow 
from  them.  There  is  truth  in  this  objection,  but  not 
the  whole  truth.  The  temperance  combination  has  for 
its  objects  to  reclaim  the  drunkard,  and  to  prevent  m- 
temperance.  Now  what  so  sure  a  method  of  accom- 
plishing the  first  is  there,  as  the  difiusion  of  knowledge 
abroad,  and  to  every  individual,  that  vast  numbers  are 


ferigaged  in  the  single,  unmixed  purpose  of  restoring  the* 
intemperate  man  to  the  numberless  blessings  and  enjoy- 
ments which  intemperance  surely  destroys.  What  bet^ 
ter,  nay,  what  other  method  than  this  public  recognition 
of  the  evil,  and  of  its  remedy,  which  is  made  by  uniting 
men  together  under  a  wise  organization,  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  giving  and  preserving  general  interest  in  this  great 
work.  Union  for  such  a  purpose  is  sure  to  invite  new" 
friends  to  itself.  It  makes  a  perpetual  appeal  to  the  in- 
temperate man  to  bring  himself  within  the  salutary  in- 
fluence of  such  a  union — to  enroll  himself  among  its 
members — to  be  himself  an  element,  a  part  in  this 
moral  combination,  and  to  pledge  himself  to  be  true  to 
its  principles  and  a  promoter  of  its  progress.  Reasoii 
about  it  as  we  may,  a  man's  virtue  is  safer  when  in  the 
neighborhood  of  all  other  good.  It  gathers  to  itself 
strength,  atid  newer  and  stronger  developments  from 
the  virtue  which  surrounds  it,  or  with  which  it  may  free- 
ly sympathize.  A  man  in  such  a  position  feels  that  he 
has  higher  and  far  nobler  relations  than  are  established 
by  all  outward  and  arbitrary  distinctions.  He  has  en- 
rolled himself  among  the  good,  or  with  men  deeply  in- 
terested in  a  good  cause,  and  the  conviction  which  is  the 
strongest  with  him  is,  that  he  is  doing  for  his  spiritual 
and  highest  nature  what  it  was  the  design  in  the  gift  of 
that  nature  for  him  to  do.  He  rejoices  to  be  one  in  this 
mighty  combination  for  humanity's  sake,  for  he  knows 
that  he  is  a  part  in  the  noblest  ministry.  This  is  the 
operation  of  union  in  a  matter  like  this.  It  is  not 
a  moral  pressure  or  tyranny  that  will  not  allow  a  man  to 
think  or  act  otherwise  than  it  dictates.  He  learns 
from  it  that  his  highest  good  consists  in  being  good,  and 


9&  APPENDIX. 

that  the  strongest  motive  which  can  or  does  influence 
him  has  its  rise,  and  has  its  power  in  his  own  soul.  A 
man's  responsibleness  does  not  change  places  in  such  a 
scheme.  He  does  not  feel  that  his  obligation  is  wholly, 
or  mainly  to  the  union  of  which  he  forms  a  part.  He 
retains  all  the  responsibleness  he  ever  had  to  his  own 
best  nature — his  sense  of  duty — the  obligations  of  truth 
— the  supreme  authority  of  God.  He  finds  in  others  de- 
voted to  the  same  work,  important  support — he  gets 
encouragement — he  gets  sympathy,  and  who  would  de- 
ny these  to  a  mind  so  infirm,  often  so  degraded,  so 
sunken,  as  that  mind  is  which  has  been  yielded  to  the 
slavery  of  intemperance  ? 

How  much  of  what  has  now  been  said  applies  with 
equal  force  to  the  second  great  object  of  the  temperance 
union,  the  prevention  of  intemperance  !  Men  associate, 
and  meetings  are  held,  for  obtaining  and  diffusing  useful 
knowledge  concerning  temperance.  Its  principles  are 
investigated,  discussed,  and  enforced  in  open  assemblies, 
and  various  and  sometimes  discordant  views  are  exhibited. 
All  this  is  but  a  manifestation  of  convictions  and  of  inter- 
est, and  what  more  sure  to  give  a  wise  direction  and  to 
secure  progress  to  the  cause  itself  It  is  not  designed  as 
a  crusade  against  vice,  but  an  enforcement  of  virtue.  It 
accomplishes  its  object  by  teaching  the  whole  causes  and 
evils  of  intemperance,  what  intemperance  is,  and  what 
produces  it.  But  it  addresses  itself  ever  to  the  moral 
nature,  and  shows  how  the  development,  and  constant  and 
active  energy  of  this  nature  is  the  strongest  defence  against 
every  form  of  evil.  T))us  salutary,  and  only  salutary  is 
union  in  this  and  all  similar  movements  of  philanthropy. 


APPENDIX.  91 

It  seeks  to  render  virtue  and  good  conduct  a  habit,  be- 
cause it  knows  and  all  men  must  acknowledge  the  truth 
of  it,  that  virtue  is  safest  when  in  habitual  exercise — 
when  the  every  day  conduct  rests  upon  the  constant 
operation  of  principle. 

The  Council  offer  these  views  not  as  a  defence  of  the 
course  they  have  adopted  and  mean  steadily  to  pursue, 
but  as  an  explanation  of  their  views  in  contributing  what 
lays  in  their  power  to  the  progress  of  temperance.  They 
are  most  anxious  that  these  views  should  be  every  where 
known,  for  they  believe  them  to  be  based  on  truth.  In 
accordance  with  what  has  now  been  said  they  have  con- 
tinued their  labors  for  the  past  year.  The  past  winter, 
a  season  always  most  favorable  for  holding  public  meet- 
ings, has  been  a  time  of  peculiar  interest.  Meetings 
have  been  almost  weekly  held  in  different  parts  of  the 
city.  The  Odeon,  which  accomodates  thousands,  and 
churches  and  chapels,  and  the  remote  Mission  House, 
among  the  rest,  have  been  filled  with  people  who  have 
always  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  the  addresses  and 
discussions  which  have  formed  the  exercises  of  the  meet- 
ings. Sunday  evening  has  been  for  the  most  part  se- 
lected for  these  meetings,  as  a  portion  of  time  best  suited 
for  such  a  purpose. 

The  Council  offer  their  sincere  acknowledgments  to 
those  who  have  taken  an  active  part  on  these  occasions, 
who  have  come  forward  openly  as  the  friends  of  the 
cause,  and  urged  upon  the  assembled  crowds,  for  such 
they  have  been,  its  great  truths,  its  settled  principles. 
Let  the  good  work  go  on.  It  has  made  progress  after 
a  manner  hardly  credible  for  its  rapidity  and  extent.    It 


92  APPENDIX, 

is  full  of  encouragement.  The  time  of  question  or 
doubt  concerning  it  has  gone  by.  It  is  at  length  felt  to 
be  the  cause  of  the  whole  world.  Let  us  trust  that  all 
men  will  feel  it  to  be  their  own. 


FOURTH  SIMULTANEOUS  ANNIVERSARY, 

By  the  Juvenile  friends  of  Temperance,  at  the   Odeon,  on  the  after-i 
noon  of  February  ^th. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  this  city  on  the  15th  of  Feb- 
ruary, by  delegates  from  the  several  temperance  so- 
cieties, it  was  voted,  that,  there  be  in  addition  to  the 
adult  evening  celebration,  a  Juvenile  meeting  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  Simultaneous  Temperance  Jubilee. 
To  carry  the  plan  into  full  effect,  the  following  appli- 
cation was  made  to  the  School  Committee,  and  unan- 
imously complied  with  : — 

To  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  Esq.,  and  to  the  gentlemen 
of  the  School  Committee  of  the  City  of  Boston. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  this  city,  on  the  evening  of 
the  date  hereof,  at  which  several  Temperance  Socie- 
ties were  represented,  it  was  unanimously  voted — 

That  a  most  respectful  and  earnest  solicitation  be 
presented  to  the  Mayor  and  the  gentlemen  of  the 
School  Committee  of  the  city,  requesting  that  the 
several  public  schools  in  the  city,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Primary  Schools,  may  be  dismissed  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  last  Tuesday  of  the  present  month, 
(which  is  the  day  of  the  Simultaneous  Temperance 
Meetings  throughout  the  civilized  world,)  for  the  pur- 
pose of  holding  upon  that  afternoon,  a  Juvenile  Tem- 
perance meeting  at  the  Odeon. 

Highly  as  we  appreciate  the  intellectual  and  mor^ 
iostruption,  which  the  children  of  the  city  are  reqeiv- 


APPENDIX.  98 

ing  at  its  schools,  we  believe  that  they  will  not  be  less 
benefited  by  the  early  impressions  in  favor  of  Tem- 
perance, they  may  receive  by  appropriating  one  after- 
noon in  the  year  to  a  subject,  so  promotiye  of  the 
welfare  of  their  whole  lives. 

John  C.  Warren,      )of  the  Mass    Temn 

TXT-  /-I  I     "/    IHv   t/rZUod>     J.  ClUTJm 

Walter  Channing,  V  "^       ^    •  / 
Horace  Mann,  )  *^  ^* 

Wm^W^Stone,  \  '^^''-  ^^^^'  ^'"''^y- 
John  Tappan,  >/•,,/,      rr         e    •  . 
G.  Odiorne,    K''''  ^'^^'     ^^^^^' 

Stephen  Fairbanks,  )  of  the  Suffolk  County 
John  Kettell,  3       Temp.  Society. 

Charles  Tappan,  Suffolk  Co.  Temp.  Society. 
Bradley  N.  Cumings,  Young  Mens'  Temp.  Soc. 
Boston,  Feb.  15,  1837. 

The  Instructers  in  the  public  Schools,  on  being 
consulted,  unanimously  voted  to  attend  at  the  Odeon 
with  the  pupils  under  their  charge,  which  was  done 
in  a  most  orderly  and  proper  manner.  Places  were 
assigned  each  school  under  the  immediate  charge  of 
its  Instructer.  The  girls  occupied  the  lower  floor, 
and  the  boys  the  upper  boxes  and  galleries,  and  a 
more  interesting  exhibition  has  been  seldom  witness- 
ed in  this  city.  Delightful  as  it  is  at  all  times,  to  see 
the  Odeon  filled  with  human  beings,  congregated  for 
some  holy  purpose,  the  present  occasion  was  one  of 
thrilling  interest,  and  caused  tears  of  joy  to  roll  down 
the  cheeks  of  the  spectators  ;  for  instead  of  parents 
were  to  be  seen  the  children.  About  twenty -five 
12 


94  APPENDIX. 

hundred  children  from  our  thirteen  pubHc  schools,  be- 
ing the  first  and  second  classes,  were  present. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Parkman  commenced  the  exercises 
by  Prayer. 

The  following  Hymn  was  then  sung  to  the  tune  of 
"America,"  (accompanied  by  the,Organ,)  all  the  chil- 
dren standing,  and  as  far  as  practicable  taking  a  part. 
The  effect  was  grand,  and  very  impressive  : — 
HYMN. 

My  country  !  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty — 

Of  thee  I  sing  : 
Land  where  my  fathers  died ; 
Land  of  the  pilgrim's  pride  ; 
From  every  mountain  side, 

Let  Temp'rance  ring. 

My  native  country  !  thee — 
Land  of  the  noble  free — 

Thy  name  I  love  : 
I  love  thy  rocks  and  rills, 
Thy  woods  and  templed  hills  ; 
My  heart  with  rapture  thrills, 

Like  that  above. 

Let  music  swell  the  breeze. 
And  ring  from  all  the  trees, 

Sweet  freedom's  song ; 
Let  infant  tongues  awake, 
Let  all  that  breathe  partake. 
Let  rocks  their  silence  break,  i 

The  sound  prolong. 

Our  father's  God  !  to  thee — 
Author  of  liberty  ! 
To  thee  we  sing  : 
Long  may  our  land  be  bright, 


APPENDIX.  95 

With  Temperance'  holy  light, 
Protect  us  by  thy  might, 
Great  God,  our  King  ! 

The  children  were  then  addressed  on  the  subject 
of  temperance,  by  Messrs.  Horton,  Barnard,  Hague, 
Stevens,  Stow,  L.  G.  Pray,  H.  Edwards,  and  M. 
Grant,  after  which  the  following  Hymn  was  sung  to 
the  tune  of  Peterborough  with  fine  effect : — 

HYMN. 

"  'Tis  but  a  drop,"  the  father  said, 

And  gave  it  to  his  son  ; 
But  little  did  he  think  a  work 

Of  death  was  then  begun. 
The  "  drop"  that  lured  him,  when  the  babe 

Scarce  lisped  his  father's  name. 
Planted  a  fatal  appetite, 

Deep  in  his  infant  frame. 

"  'Tis  but  a  drop,"  the  comrades  cried. 

In  truant  schoolboy  tone  ; 
"  It  did  not  hurt  us  in  our  robes — 

It  will  not,  now  we're  grown." 
And  so  they  drank  the  mixture  up, 

That  reeling,  youthful  band  ; 
For  each  had  learned  to  love  the  taste, 

From  his  own  father's  hand. 

"  'Tis  but  a  drop, — I  need  it  now" — 

The  staggering  drunkard  said ; 
"  It  was  my  food  in  infancy — 

My  meat,  and  drink,  and  bread. 
A  drop — a  drop — oh  let  me  have, 

'Twill  so  refresh  my  soul !" 
He  took  it — trembled — drank  and  died, 

Grasping  the  fatal  bowl. 


96  APPENDIX. 

Each  of  the  Instructers  were  presented  with  a  vol- 
ume of  the  very  interesting  and  useful  work,  called 
the  Temperance  Documents  of  the  American  Tem- 
perance Society.  The  tract  of  Cranberry  Meadow 
and  Joe  Anderson,  were  furnished  the  pupils  of  the 
schools — also  a  number  of  very  appropriate  kind  of 
Temperance  medals  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
each  Instructer. 

At  5  o'clock,  this  great  congregation  of  "little  ones", 
retired  in  the  same  good  order  that  they  entered,  hav- 
ing behaved  throughout  the  services  with  much  pro- 
priety, and  reflecting  honor  on  themselves  as  "  Boston 
Boys  and  Girls,"  and  great  credit  on  their  Instructers, 
in  remembering  the  good  old  copy  of  the  gone  by 
days  of  Masters  Tileston,  Carter,  &  Co.,  that  *'  Or- 
der IS  Heaven's  first  law." 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 

For  the  Fourth  Simultaneous  Temperance  Meeting,  at  the  Odeon, 
Tuesday  Evening,  February  28, 1837. 

1.  VOLUNTARY  ON  THE  ORGAN. 

2.  PRAYER. 

3.  ORIGINAL  HYMN. 

Glorious  day,  we  bid  thee  welcome ! 

Brightly  roll  thy  hours  along ; 
Each  a  blessing  freely  bearing. 

Praise  to  Heaven  from  every  tongue  ! 
'Tis  Jubilee  ! 
Raise  on  high  the  inspiring  song. 


APPENDIX.  97 

Friends  of  Temperance  every  where, — 

Friends  of  man  your  anthems  raise ; 
'Tis  your  Annual  Holyday  ; 

Fill  its  hours  with  heartiest  praise. 
All  united, 
Send  through  earth  your  sounding  lays. 

Nations  on  this  day  are  greeting — 

Earth  is  blest  by  such  a  day. 
The  cause  is  glorious  we  have  met  for — 

Welcome,  welcome,  happy  day  ! 
We  labor  will. 
Till  Temperance  has  a  sovereign  sway. 

Who  would  shrink  from  such  a  labor, 

While  to  wine  our  soul's  a  slave  .-• 
Who  would  hug  his  selfish  pleasure, 

If  the  sacrifice  might  save 
One  brother  man, 
From  his  self-made,  living  grave  .' 

Let  us  each  united  pledging, 

Give  our  hearts  to  Temperance'  call. 
The  good  and  great  our  cause  are  greeting — 

True  to  it,  be  true  to  all. 

Hear  her  glad  voice, 
And  round  her  shrine  devoutly  fall. 

4.  ADDRESS. 

5.  ORIGINAL  HYMN. 

How  long,  O  God,  how  long 

Must  thy  pure  eyes  behold 
This  fair  world  blasted  by  the  wrong, 

Man  does  to  man  for  gold  ! 
How  long  shall  Reason  be  cast  down, 
And  a  fierce  demon  wear  her  crown  .' 

The  prisoner's  cell,  that  all 
Life's  blessed  light  bedims, 
The  lash  that  cute, — the  links  that  gall 


98  APPENDIX. 

The  poor  slave's  festering  limbs, — 
What  is  this  thraldom,  to  the  chain 
That  binds  and  burns  the  drunkard's  brain  ? 

If,  then,  thy  frown  is  felt, 
O  God,  by  those  who  bind 

The  body — what  must  be  the  guilt 
Of  such  as  chain  the  mind, 

Drag  to  the  pit,  and  plunge  it  in  ? 

O  have  not  these  "  the  greater  sin"? 

The  mother  of  our  race, 

Whose  sin  brought  death  and  wo. 

Yet,  in  her  weakness,  found  thy  grace  ; — 
The  Tempter's  curse  we  know. 

Doth  he  who  drinks,  wrong  most  the  soul? 

Or  he  who  tempts  him  to  the  bowl  ? 

Help  us,  O  God,  to  weigh 
Our  deeds  as  in  thy  scales ; 

Nor  let  gold  dust  the  balance  sway  : — 
For  good  o'er  gold  prevails 

At  that  dread  bar  where  all  must  look 

Upon  the  record  in  thy  book. 


G.  DOXOLOGY. 
From  all  that  dwell  below  the  skies, 
Let  the  Creator's  praise  arise  : 
Let  the  Redeemer's  name  be  sung, 
By  every  land,  by  every  tongue. 

Eternal  are  thy  mercies.  Lord  ; 

Eternal  truth  attends  thy  word ; 

Thy  praise  shall  sound  from  shore  to  shore, 

Till  suns  shall  rise  and  set  no  more. 

7.  BENEDICTION. 


APPENDIX.  99 


The  Council  publish  with  pleasure  the  following  very  able  re- 
port made  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts,  on 
the  petition  of  citizens  of  Roxbury,  praying  for  an  alteration  of 
the  License  Law. 

The  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  petition  of 
the  town  of  Roxbury,  praying  the  General  Court  for 
an  alteration  of  the  license  law,  having  attended  to 
the  duty  assigned  them,  beg  leave  to 

REPORT: 

That  the  county  commissioners  for  the  county  of 
Norfolk,  on  application  being  made  for  licenses  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  county,  in  April  last,  refused  to  grant 
any,  either  to  grocers  or  innholders,  for  the  retail  of  ar- 
dent spirits.  Several  individuals,  however,  continued  to 
sell  liquors  as  before,  and  were  consequently  prosecuted 
for  violations  of  ihe  law.  This  produced  some  excite- 
ment in  several  towns  of  the  county,  and  especially  in 
Roxbury.  Though  it  has  chiefly  subsided  in  other 
places,  it  continues  to  agitate  the  citizens  of  that  town, 
and  hence  the  petition  offered  to  this  house. 

The  Committee  in  behalf  of  the  town  of  Roxbury, 
have  presented  two  views  of  the  subject  in  urging  their 
prayer  upon  the  attention  of  the  Legislature.  The  first 
is,  that  the  present  law,  by  the  mdde  in  which  it  has 
been  administered,  has  exerted,  and  is  exerting,  an  op- 
pressive influence  upon  many  of  the  citizens  of  Rox- 
bury, that  it  has  already  dimin'shed  in  a  serious  degree 
the  business  of  the  place ;  that  it  has  depreciated  the 
value  of  real  estate  generally,  and  of  particular  estates, 


*>i' 


100  APPENDIX. 

to  a  ruinous  extent ;  and  that  these  evils,  thus  actually 
realized,  are  but  the  beginning  of  more  serious  misfor- 
tunes, if  the  course  pursued  by  the  commissioners  should 
be  sustained.  The  other  view  has  a  bearing  upon  the 
license  law,  as  it  affects  the  state  at  large. 

The  respectable  individuals  to  whom  the  petition  was 
entrusted  by  the  town  of  Roxbury,  appeared  in  person 
before  your  Committee,  and  endeavored  to  substantiate 
by  facts  and  arguments,  the  first  point  above  mentioned. 
Several  other  citizens  of  Roxbury  were  present,  who, 
by  consent  of  parties,  submitted  various  statements  in 
opposition  to  these  views.  A  number  of  individuals, 
large  land  holders,  gave  it  as  their  opinion,  that  the 
restrictions  recently  imposed  upon  the  sale  of  ardent 
spirits  in  Roxbury,  had  actually  exerted  a  beneficial  ef- 
fect upon  business  and  property  in  the  town  ;  and  they 
presented  such  facts  as  to  persuade  your  Committee, 
that,  although  a  few  individuals  may  transiently  suffer  in 
their  business,  and  a  few  estates,  occupied  as  taverns 
and  groceries,  and  hitherto  devoted  to  the  retailing  of 
spirits  may  be  depressed  in  market  value  for  a  time, — 
yet  the  suppression  of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in 
the  town,  is  likely,  on  the  whole,  to  promote  its  growth, 
and  increase  rather  than  diminish  the  value  of  property 
generally.  Your  Committee  believe  that  no  candid 
person,  hearing  the  evidence  before  the  Committee, 
could  arrive  at  a  different  conclusion. 

The  other  view,  presented  by  your  petitioners,  is 
contained  in  the  written  Memorial  which  has  been  pre- 
sented to  this  House.  They  ask  of  the  Legislature 
"  to  so  alter  the  license  law,  as  to  authorize  the  select- 
men to  grant  stick  licenses  in  their  respective  towns  as 


APPENDIX.  101 

they  may  think  expedient ;  and,  in  case  of  any  refusal 
of  the  selectmen  to  license,  an  appeal  may  be  had  to  the 
county  commissioners  of  the  county,  who  shall  license 
such  person  or  persons  as  they  think  proper,  or  the 
public  good  may  require,  and  that  all  laws  inconsistent 
with  the  above,  shall  be  repealed^ 

The  first  reason  assigned  for  this  change,  is  thus 
stated  by  the  petitioners.  "  The  county  commissioners 
in  some  counties  construe  the  law  to  require  them  to 
grant  licenses  to  a  reasonable  number  of  suitable  per- 
sons;  and  in  other  counties,  the  commissioners  consider 
themselves  authorized  to  refuse  all  licenses,  and  thus, 
that  which  is  lawful,  and  esteemed  worthy  in  some 
counties,  is,  {strange  as  it  may  appear^  rendered  un- 
lawjul  and  odious  in  other  counties.^'  The  argument 
then,  is,  that  owing  to  the  different  interpretations  of  the 
law  by  different  commissioners,  tlie  present  system  ope- 
rates unequally  upon  different  sections  of  the  State. 
But  it  is  apparent,  that  the  proposed  substitute  would 
operate  with  greater  and  more  palpable  inequality.  If 
the  selectmen  of  the  several  towns  were  authorized  to 
grant  or  withhold  licenses,  they  would  be  granted  in 
some,  and  withheld  in  others.  We  should,  therefore, 
see  the  citizens  of  one  town  in  the  enjoyment  of  privi- 
leges denied  to  the  citizens  of  the  adjacent  towns,  and 
thus,  the  whole  Stale  would  be  chequered  with  the 
unequal  and  contradictory  operation  of  the  same  law. 
If,  then,  there  is  any  force  in  the  objection  against  the 
present  law,  that  it  operates  unequally,  it  applies  with 
still  greater  force  to  the  law  proposed  by  the  petitioners. 
Nor  is  this  all.  If  the  power  of  granting  licenses  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  selectmen,  the  practice  in  the 
13 


102  APPENDIX. 

same  town  '^may  change  from  year  to  year,  and  thus, 
beside  the  distinction  made  between  one  town  and  an- 
other, an  inconvenient  and  vexatious  fluctuation  would 
be  the  inevitable  result  in  many  parts  of  the  State. 

The  other  argument,  offered  by  the  petitioners,  is, 
that  the  "  municipal  authorities  are,  by  their  position, 
best  quaJiJied  to  determine  what  is  required  for  the 
public  convenience  in  their  respective  localities."  Your 
Committee  are  unable  to  concur  with  the  petitioners  on 
this  point.  They  beheve,  indeed,  that  the  selectmen 
have  better  means  of  information  as  to  the  character  of 
applicants  for  licenses  than  the  county  commissioners, 
and  the  existing  law  proposes  that  the  commissioners 
shall  have  full  advantage  of  the  opinion  of  the  select- 
men on  this  point.  But  it  would  seem  that  individuals, 
standing  aloof  from  local  influences,  would  be  safer 
judges  of  what  the  public  good  may  require,  than  those 
who  are  of  necessity  accessible  to  the  solicitation  of 
friends,  the  threats  of  enemies,  and  all  the  various  ex- 
citements which  an  agitating  question  may  produce. 

Nor  can  your  Committee  fail  to  remark,  that  while 
the  petitioners  say  that  the  municipal  authorities  are  the 
best  judges  of  what  is  required  for  the  public  good,  they 
at  the  same  time  propose  that  the  county  commissioners 
shall  have  power  to  grant  licenses  in  all  cases  where 
these  authorities  conceive  them  to  be  unnecessary  ;  thus 
praying  you  to  pass  an  act  in  plain  contradiction  to  one 
of  the  main  arguments  by  which  their  petition  is  urged. 

It  appears  to  your  Committee,  therefore,  that  the  law 
proposed  by  the  petitioners  is  condemned  by  the  very 
principles  upon  which  they  press  its  adoption.  If  we 
look  farther  into  the  subject,  other  and  weightier  argu- 


APPENDIX.  103 

ments  are  presented  against  the  scheme.  Should  the 
prayer  of  the  petitioners  be  granted,  the  power  of  dis- 
pensing licenses  will  be  conferred  on  the  selectmen,  and 
their  election  will  therefore  turn  upon  their  disposition 
to  grant  or  refuse  them.  Thus,  an  annual  battle  is  to 
be  fought  in  every  town  where  the  people  are  nearly 
balanced  on  the  question.  If  we  wished  to  scatter  wide 
the  seeds  of  dissension  and  discord,  we  could  hardly  de- 
vise a  happier  instrument  to  accomplish  this  end  than 
the  proposed  law. 

We  may  add,  that  should  this  law  be  carried  into 
effect,  it  would  greatly  increase  the  number  of  licenses. 
It  would,  in  the  first  place,  be  regarded,  both  by  the 
friends  and  enemies  of  the  cause  of  temperance,  as  ex- 
pressing a  determination  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature, 
to  recede  from  the  stand  it  has  taken,  and  for  years 
maintained,  in  favor  of  a  gradual  extirpation  of  the  cus- 
tom of  drinking  intoxicating  liquors.  It  would,  there- 
fore, dishearten  the  one,  and  give  courage  to  the  other. 
Under  this  influence,  the  selectmen  and  county  commis- 
sioners would  be  irresistibly  pressed  into  the  granting  of 
more  and  more  licenses.  But  suppose  no  such  influ- 
ence should  be  felt,  still,  let  us  look  at  the  operation  of 
this  scheme,  when  carried  into  effect.  For  the  sake  of 
example,  let  us  take  the  town  of  Roxbury.  The  usual 
number  of  licenses  for  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits,  granted 
in  this  place,  for  several  years  past,  has  been  twenty- 
four.  On  the  24th  of  September  last,  the  selectmen,  in 
obedience  to  a  vote  of  the  town,  called  upon  the  county 
commissioners,  and  requested  them  to  grant  licenses  to 
twenty-three  persons.  Should  the  views  of  your  peti- 
tioners, therefore,  be  realized,  this  number  of  licenses 
would  be  granted  by  the  selectmen,  and  probably  more. 


104  APPENDIX. 

Now,  the  population  of  Roxbury  may  be  estimated  at 
seven  thousand.  If  we  deduct  three-fourths  of  this  num- 
ber for  females  and  minors,  whom  we  suppose  not  to  be 
in  the  habit  of  drinking  spirits,  we  have  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty.  We  may  consider  half  of  this 
number  to  consist  of  persons  who  never  taste  ardent  spir- 
its. Thus,  we  have  twenty-three  licensed  houses  for  the 
benefit  of  eight  hundred  seventy-five  persons,  which  is 
one  to  every  thirty-seven,  supposed  to  be  in  the  habit  of 
drinking  intoxicating  hquors.  Is  it  not  obvious,  even  al- 
lowing that  these  persons  are  to  be  supplied  with  every 
convenience  for  the  indulgence  of  a  pernicious  habit, 
that  this  number  is  more  than  is  necessary  ?  Is  it  not 
setting  snares  for  the  feet  of  the  unwary  ?  Is  it  not 
placing  facilities,  temptations,  inducements,  to  fall  into 
crime,  before  the  thoughdess  and  the  young  ?  And  if, 
as  appears  by  the  statistics  of  penitentiaries,  pauper- 
houses  and  prisons,  the  licensed  drinking-houses  are  the 
fertile  parents  of  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  crime  com- 
mitted against  life  and  property,  and  two-thirds  of  the 
pauperism  that  taxes  the  community,  to  speak  of  no 
other  evils  flowing  from  the  same  fertile  source,  shall  we 
not  come  to  the  conclusion  that  twenty-three  licensed 
drinking-houses  in  Roxbury,  are  not  only  unnecessary, 
but  that  they  would  produce  extensive  and  irretrievable 
mischief  in  the  town  ?  If  the  question  could  come  fairly 
before  the  citizens  of  that  place,  your  Committee  doubt 
not  that  a  large  majority  would  prefer  the  present  law, 
which  excludes  all  licenses  for  the  retail  of  spirits,  to 
to  that  proposed  by  the  petitioners,  attended,  as  it  would 
be,  by  pernicious  consequences. 


APPENDIX.  105 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  pursue  this  subject  far- 
ther ;  but  as  some  of  the  citizens  of  Roxbury  and  other 
towns  in  the  county  of  Norfolk  have  been  persuaded, 
that  the  plan  proposed  in  the  petition,  should  it  be 
adopted,  would  prove  beneficial  to  the  State,  we  will 
endeavor  to  trace  its  consequences  in  other  parts  of  the 
Commonwealth,  Let  us  take  some  of  those  towns, 
where  a  majority  of  the  people  are  opposed  to  licenses, 
and  where,  at  present,  none  are  granted.  Yet  in  these 
places,  there  are  persons,  no  doubt,  who  would  be  glad 
to  obtain  them.  If  the  selectmen  refuse,  these  persons 
may  appeal  to  the  county  commissioners,  and  they  may 
grant  their  request.  Thus,  in  opposition  to  the  wishes 
of  a  majority,  in  opposition  to  the  town  authorities,  the 
licensed  tavern  and  the  grog-shop  may  return  to  the 
places  from  which  they  have  been  exiled  for  years  by 
the  voice  of  public  opinion.  Will  the  petitioners  say 
that  this  is  just  ?  Will  any  man  say  it  is  expedient  ? 
Yet  unjust  and  inexpedient  as  it  is,  such  would  be  the 
actual  operation  of  the  proposed  law  in  many  parts  of 
the  State. 

Your  Committee  cannot  close  this  report,  without 
offering  a  few  remarks  in  relation  to  the  present  license 
law,  and  they  are  induced  to  do  this  from  the  fact,  that 
several  petitions  are  before  them,  which  evince  some 
uneasiness  in  different  parts  of  the  State  upon  this  mat- 
ter. Several  modes  of  legislation  on  the  difficult  and 
delicate  subject  of  intoxicating  liquors,  have  been  sug- 
gested. The  first  is,  to  interdict  the  retailing  of  spiritu- 
ous liquors  altogether ;  the  second,  to  permit  their  sale 
without  restriction,  making  drunkenness  penal ;  and  the 
last,  to  regulate  the  sale  of  spirits.     The  two  first  are 


106  APPENDIX. 

generally  condemned,  as  either  incompatible  with  public 
good,  or  public  opinion ;  the  last  is  the  only  one  which 
seems  to  be  expedient. 

Now,  the  regulating  of  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  can- 
not be  done  with  a  due  regard  to  the  varying  conditions, 
the  different  habits  and  fluctuating  opinions  of  society, 
but  by  the  use  of  a  discretionary  power.  But  in  whose 
hands  shall  this  be  lodged  ?  In  those  of  the  State  com- 
missioners ?  This  scheme,  would  be  attended  with  great 
expense  and  inconvenience,  and  the  commissioners  must 
be  destitute  of  that  minute  knowledge  of  local  circum- 
stances and  individual  character,  which  would  be  indis- 
pensable to  a  salutary  use  of  their  authority.  Shall  the 
discretionary  power  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  select- 
men of  the  several  towns,  according  to  the  wishes  of 
your  petitioners  ?  That  question  has  been  already  an- 
swered. 

Of  all  the  modes  proposed,  none  has  occurred  to  your 
Committee  so  likely  to  promote  the  public  good,  as  that 
adopted  in  the  statute,  which  places  the  discretionary  or 
regulating  power  in  the  hands  of  county  commissioners. 
It  appears  to  be  admitted  on  all  hands,  that  even  taken 
moderately,  the  drinking  of  ardent  spirits  is  injurious, 
and  that  in  point  of  fact,  it  is  the  source  of  more  mis- 
chief to  the  community  than  any  other  single  cause.  It 
is,  therefore,  a  pernicious  custom,  and  demands  the  vigi- 
lant attention  of  the  Legislature.  The  existing  law  ap- 
pears to  have  been  framed  with  these  views,  and  to  be 
well  adapted  to  aid  the  reformation  of  public  manners  on 
this  subject.  It  proceeds  upon  the  idea,  that  the  drink- 
ing of  ardent  spirits  is  not  necessary,  and  it  licenses  the 
retailer  only  in  condescension  to  public  opinion.     When 


APPENDIX.  107 

that  opinion  has  become  so  far  enlightened,  so  far  de- 
livered from  the  slavery  of  habit,  as  to  bear  out  the 
commissioners  in  refusing  to  grant  licenses,  it  places  that 
power  in  their  hands,  and,  however  delicate  the  task 
may  be,  it  is  doubtless  their  duty  to  use  it  in  this  man- 
ner, whenever,  in  their  opinion,  the  public  good  de- 
mands it. 

If  this  view"  is  just,  the  spirit  of  the  law  of  Massachu- 
setts in  relation  to  intoxicating  liquors  is  restrictive,  and 
both  its  tendency  and  design  are  to  follow  up  the  march 
of  reformation,  and  secure  the  conquests  made  from 
time  to  time  by  civilization  over  a  barbarous  custom. 
And  can  any  one  condemn  this  ?  Can  any  one  show 
that  this  is  an  abuse  of  legislative  power?  We  have 
heard  some  popular  clamor  against  the  restraint  put 
upon  the  natural  rights  of  man,  and  we  have  witnessed 
the  attempts  of  artful  individuals  to  excite  uneasiness 
amongst  that  class  of  persons,  who  are  ever  ready  to 
identify  liberty  with  licentiousness.  But  we  believe  no 
reflecting  man  will  deny  the  right  of  the  Legislature  to 
regulate  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits,  in  any  such  manner 
as  the  public  good  may  require.  Even  the  petition 
from  Roxbury  admits  this,  and  the  law  therein  proposed 
is  based  upon  a  full  acknowledgment  of  the  principle. 
Nor  does  the  doctrine  seem  to  be  questioned  by  any  of 
the  petitions  before  your  Committee. 

If,  then,  the  right  of  regulating  the  sale  of  spirits,  with 
a  view  to  the  public  good,  belongs  to  the  Legislature, 
can  any  one  maintain  that  the  law  may  not  be  framed 
with  a  view  to  the  gradual  diminution  of  the  use  of 
them  ?  We  think  not.  It  is  obvious,  that  the  law  in 
its  progress  must  often  press  with  inconvenience  upon 


108  APPENDIX. 

the  business  of  dealers  in  spirits,  and  it  is  to  be  expect- 
ed that  these  persons,  if  guided  by  selfishness  alone, 
will  combine  to  oppose  the  law,  both  in  its  principles 
and  its  execution.  And  it  is  to  be  expected,  that  they 
will  easily  rally  to  their  aid,  those  who  have  long  in- 
dulged in  the  habit  of  drinking,  and  dread  a  threatened 
encroachment,  upon  a  long  cherished  indulgence.  But 
experience  has  shown,  that  the  resistance  of  such  indi- 
viduals is  temporary,  where  a  majority  of  the  people 
around  them  entertain  opposite  sentiments,  and  it  fre- 
quently happens,  that,  when  the  law  has  triumphed,  and 
opposition  ceased,  the  opposers  have  become  the  stead- 
fast friends  and  sure  supporters  of  a  reformation  which 
at  first  they  resisted. 

If  we  needed  illustration  of  this,  we  could  easily  find 
them  in  the  south-eastern  section  of  this  Commonwealth. 
Here  are  five  contiguous  counties,  formerly  as  much  ad- 
dicted to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  as  any  others,  which 
have,  one  after  another,  submitted  to  an  entire  exclusion 
of  licenses  for  the  retail  of  ardent  spirits.  At  first,  the 
restrictions  of  the  county  commissioners  were  loudly 
complained  of,  and  the  law  openly  violated.  But  this 
opposition  gradually  subsided,"  and  we  believe  three- 
fourths  of  the  people  of  this  section  of  the  State  would 
esteem  the  restoration  of  the  licensed  tavern  and  grog 
shop  as  one  of  the  greatest  calamities  that  could  befall 
them.  If  any  man  or  combination  of  men  can  be  found, 
whose  desire  is  to  turn  back  a  revolution  so  salutary, 
and  destroy  a  law,  whose  effects  have  been  at  once  so 
great  and  so  good,  we  trust  they  will  at  least  find  no 
favor  in  this  legislative  hall. 


Appendix;  109 

To  apply  these  views  to  the  direct  question  beford 
the  House,  your  Committee  need  but  say,  that  so  far  a^ 
the  town  of  Roxbury  is  concerned,  several  individuals 
are  suffering  from  the  restrictive  operation  of  the  law,  as 
administered  by  the  county  commissioners;  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  inhabitants  of  two  or  three  other 
towns  in  the  county  of  Norfolk.  That  these  individuals, 
among  whom  are  many  of  great  respectability,  should 
feel  aggrieved,  and  that  they  should  seek  relief  at  the 
hands  of  the  General  Court,  is  natural.  Yet  your  Com- 
mittee believe,  that,  should  the  law  be  sustained,  these 
individuals  will  submit  to  sacrifices  which  the  publid 
good  demands,  and  that,  when  their  interest  no  longer 
induces  them  to  condemn  and  oppose  the  law,  they  will 
become  its  steadfast  supporters.  As  to  the  course  pur-* 
sued  by  the  commissioners  in  the  county  of  Norfolk, 
your  Committee  need  offer  no  opinion  ;  it  is  proper  to 
add,  however,  that  it  appears  to  be  approved  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  county. 

Believing,  then,  that  the  present  license!  law  is  a  saluJ 
f  ary  one,  and  that  the  change  proposed  by  the  petition-" 
ers  would  not  promote  either  public  good  of  public 
peace,  we  recommend  that  their  prayer  be  not  granted, 
dnd  that  they  have  leave  to  withdraw  their  petition^ 
By  order  of  the  Committee, 

S.  G.  GOODRICH,  Chairman^ 
14 


110  APPENDIX. 

DISTILLATION  OF  BREAD-STUFFS. 

Under  this  head  various  statements  have  recently 
been  made  in  the  newspapers,  from  almost  every  part 
of  the  country.  These  statements  are  of  a  most  inter- 
esting nature.  They  show  how  rapidly  increasing  every 
where,  is  the  interest  of  individuals  and  communities,  in 
the  temperance  cause.  They  show,  too,  that  this  in- 
terest is  directed  to  topics  of  the  utmost  national  impor- 
tance. Men  begin  deeply  to  feel,  that  not  only  is  their 
moral  well  being,  but  that  even  the  supply  of  their 
physical  wants,  is  intimately  connected  with  the  progress 
of  this  cause.  This  feeling  exists  every  where.  It  is 
in  no  sense  confined  to  the  active,  personal  friends  of 
the  cause.  An  immense  pecuniary  pressure  continues 
to  be  felt  throughout  the  country.  We  are  told  that 
the  supply  from  our  own  soil,  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
has  been  deficient.  So  short,  it  is  added,  have  been 
crops,  that  importations  of  bread-stuffs  have  been  made 
to  an  extent  unheard  of  in  our  history.  With  a  country 
of  such  A^ast  extent,  presenting  in  itself  every  variety  of 
climate,  and  a  soil,  in  immense  tracts  of  unparalleled  fer- 
tility, we  exhibit  the  strange  fact,  of  dependence  on  re- 
mote countries  for  what  the  whole  soil  is  admirably 
fitted  to  produce.  Under  an  actual  pressure  thus  ex- 
plained, prices  have  continually  advanced,  for  bread- 
stuiFs,  until  they  nearly  or  quite  equal  what  they  w^re 
during  the  late  war.  To  the  laboring  classes,  and  es- 
pecially to  the  poor,  the  evil  from  this  state  of  things 
has  been,  and  is,  severely  felt.  In  one  city,  resort  has 
been  had  to  open  violence  for  relief.  While  this  course 
is  mentioned  only  to  be  reprobated,  it  may  be  referred 


APPENDIX.  Ill 

to  as  evidence  of  the  severe  distress  which  the  alleged 
scarcity  has  produced.  The  price  of  labor  has  been 
advanced,  but  this  has  imperfectly  met  the  pressure. 
TJie  demand  for  labor  must  diminish,  under  this  state  of 
things,  and  then  how  surely  will  pauperism,  discontent 
and  misery  be  the  lot  of  those  who  have  always,  till 
now,  found  in  their  own  honorable  industry  the  means 
of  comfortable  support. 

Such  a  state  of  things  could  not  long  exist,  without 
earnest  inquiry  for  its  causes  ;  and  actual  scarcity  has 
been  referred  to  as  a  main  one.  But  is  this  the  true 
explanation  ?  So  far  from  its  being  so  believed  by  those 
who  have  the  best  means  of  knowledge  in  the  matter, 
the  crops  of  all  grains  the  present  season,  were  thought 
quite  sufficient  for  all  the  purposesof  food  in  every  part  of 
the  country,  and  at  common  prices.  It  is  believed  that 
if  bread-stuffs  had  only  been  used  as  food,  that  there 
would  have  been  no  actual  want  of  a  sufficient  supply  ; 
no  such  want  as  would  either  have  increased  the  price 
of  bread,  or  have  made  importations  necessary.  A  fail- 
ure in  crops,  therefore,  it  is  believed,  does  not  explain 
the  actual  state  of  things. 

Speculation  is  another  cause  to  which  is  ascribed  the 
diminished  supply,  and  the  increased  price  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life.  Accumulation  of  these  in  the  hands  of 
the  few,  for  the  ultimate  use  of  the  many,  is  a  conse- 
quence as  well  as  cause  of  the  existing  pressure.  Spec- 
ulation, in  this,  its  operation,  is  among  the  compensations 
or  ofFsetts  of  the  innumerable  advantages  of  trade  ;  and 
is  not  judged  aright,  if  seen  to  be  only  a  part  of  an  op- 
pressive system. 


lis  APPENDIX. 

But  it  is  believed  that  speculation  has  but  a  small 
part  in  the  present  state  of  things.  It  is  believed,  if  a 
vast  demand  were  not  made  for  bread-stuffs,  for  other 
purposes  than  food,  that  there  would  have  been  no  room 
for  the  operation  of  speculation  in  the  present  alleged 
scarcity. 

We  come  now  to  what  is  believed  to  be  the  true 
cause  of  the  present  scarcity,  and  the  high  prices  of 
bread-stuffs.  This  is  distillation ;  the  conversion  of  food 
into  poison,  the  destruction  of  food ;  yes,  the  total  de- 
struction of  food ;  just  as  much  such  as  if  it  were  bought 
up  only  to  be  burnt,  and  its  ashes  scattered  to  the  winds. 
Upon  what  does  this  belief  rest  ?  We  answer,  upon  the 
following  statements,  which  we  now  offer  earnestly  to 
the  consideration  of  every  reader.  They  might  easily 
have  been  added  to. 

The  first  offered  is  from  Pitkin's  Statistics  of  the 
United  States,  a  work  of  the  highest  authority.  From 
that  work,  it  appears  that  in  1810,  between  five  and  six 
million  bushels  of  corn  and  rye  were  distilled  in  the 
United  States.  In  1820,  it  is  estimated  to  have  been 
eight  million  bushels.     In  1830,  ten  million  bushels. 

From  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  we 
learn  that  in  New  York  alone,  one  hundred  thousand 
bushels  of  grain  are  converted  monthly  into  whiskey, 
enough  to  make  twenty  thousand  barrels  of  flour,  or  two 
Jiundred  and  forty  thousand  barrels  a  year.  By  another 
estimate,  the  quantity  of  grain  thus  destroyed  as  food,  is 
\Vfo  million  bushels.  In  this  last  year,  on  one  of  the 
western  canals  alone,  there  were  entered  for  transporter 
tion,  three  thousand  two  hundred  barrels  of  whiskey, 


Al'PENDlX.  113 

The  above  statements  relate  to  one  state  only,  in  the 
Union.  When  to  these  are  added  the  great  amount  of 
distillation  from  grain  which  is  carried  on  in  Connecti- 
cut, and  the  far,  far  greater  amount  of  the  same  in  th§ 
whole  west,  some  estimate  may  be  made  of  the  vast 
destruction  of  grain  which  is  daily  and  hourly  going  on 
in  these  States.  The  same  statements  farther  explain 
the  existing  scarcity,  and  the  present  high  prices  of 
bread-stuffi. 

To  show  how  deep  is  the  interest  felt  on  this  subject 
in  New  York,  we  make  the  following  extract  from  the 
Journal  of  Commerce,  for  February  2d,  1837.  Such 
legislative  movements  as  these  are  highly  honorable  to 
the  great  State  in  which  they  have  been  made,  and 
commend  themselves  strongly  to  the  attention  and  imi- 
tation of  all  other  States. 

Extract  from  the  JVew  York  Journal  of  Commerce  of   d  February, 
1837. 

"  A  resolution  which  may  lead  to  important  results, 
was  adopted  by  the  New  York  Senate  on  Monday,  di- 
recting the  Committee  on  Manufactures  to  ascertain,  if 
practicable,  the  amount  of  grain  consumed  by  the  several 
distilleries  in  the  State,  and  to  enquire  into  the  expedi- 
ency of  preventing,  by  law,  the  consumption,  in  this 
mode,  of  productions  capable  of  being  converted  into  food 
for  the  use  of  man." 

It  was  said  above,  that  great  importations  of  grain 
from  abroad  have  been  made  this  year.  The  following 
statements  offer  details  which  may  be  relied  on  in  regard 
to  this  point. 


114  APPENDIX. 

"  Few,  we  apprehend,  have  any  idea  of  the  vast 
quantities  which  have  been  received  from  foreign  coun- 
tries during  the  last  three  months.  We  perceive  by  the 
Baltimore  papers  of  the  fourteenth,  that  of  the  imports  of 
wheat  into  that  city  during  the  last  eight  or  ten  days, 
seventy-two  thousand  bushels,  had  been  sold  at  from  one 
dollar  and  eighty  cents,  to  two  dollars  and  ten  cents  per 
bushel.  Part  of  another  cargo  iiad  been  sold  at  from 
two  dollars  and  ten  cents,  to  two  dollars  and  fifteen  cents ; 
fourteen  thousand  eight  hundred  bushels  had  been  stored 
by  the  importers,  and  fifteen  thousand  bushels  had  not 
been  landed  ;  making  in  all  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  bushels  of  foreign  wheat  received  in  the  port  of 
Baltimore  alone,  in  the  course  of  only  eight  or  ten  days. 
The  New  York  Express  Price  Current  of  January  sev- 
enth, says :  '  We  have  large  additions  to  the  stock  of 
foreign  wheat — full  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
bushels  are  on  sale  at  this  moment.'  January  fourteenth, 
it  says,  that  within  the  last  week,  '  we  have  had  very 
large  additions  to  our  stock  of  German  wheat.'  The 
arrivals  at  other  ports,  though  of  less  importance,  will 
still  add  a  good  deal  to  the  aggregate  amount.  Large 
quantities  of  rye  and  oats  have  also  been  imported  ;  and 
accounts  have  been  published  in  the  papers,  of  consid- 
erable sales  of  Indian  corn  from  the  Western  Islands. 
It  should  be  taken  into  view,  in  this  connexion,  that,  in 
former  years,  w^e  have  exported  immense  quantities  of 
grain  and  flour,  to  which  the  state  of  things,  this  year, 
must  have  almost  put  an  entire  stop. 

The  New  York  market  is  kept  bare  of  rye  almost 
th6  whole  time  by  the  distillers ;  and  when  a  cargo  ar- 


APPENDIX.  115 

fives,  even  oi  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  bushels,  it  is 
swept  off,  at  once,  in  a  mass  by  them." — Worcester 
Spy,  January,  1837. 

Still  farther  to  show  to  what  an  extent  the  destruction 
of  grain  may  be  carried  by  distillation,  the  following  ab" 
stracts  are  offered  of  the  "  Parliamentary  Evidence  on 
Drunkenness,  taken  before  a  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  in  the  months  of  June  and  July,  1834." 

"  In  1828,  the  consumption  of  distilled  spirits,  in  Ire- 
land, according  to  the  Excise  office  returns,  was  ten 
millions  of  gallons.  Besides  this,  a  very  large  quantity 
roust  be  put  down  to  the  score  of  illicit  distillaliony 
which  no  vigilance  of  the  government  has  yet  been  able 
fo  suppress.  In  the  Parliamentary  papers  for  1823,  it 
is  stated,  that  at  a  period  when  three  millions  of  gallons 
were  charged  with  duty,  ten  millions,  in  opinion  of  the 
revenue  committee,  were  really  made.  In  another 
case,  subsequently  to  this,  where  six  millions  were 
charged,  it  was  believed  twelve  millions  were  distilled. 
For  some  reason,  however,  which  does  not  appear.  Pro- 
fessor Edgar  estimates  the  private  distillation,  in  1828, 
at  only  two  million  five  hundred  thousand  gallons,  which, 
added  to  the  ten  million  paying  duty,  makes  twelve  mil- 
lion five  hundred  thousand  ;  and  this,  by  the  addition  of 
water  in  the  vaults  and  shops,  raised  it  to  at  least  four- 
teen millions.  The  cost,  to  the  consumers,  could  not 
have  been  less  than  nine  shillings  per  gallon,  or  six  mil- 
lion three  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling.  At  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Hibernian  Temperance  Society  in 
Dublin,  held  on  the  nineteenth  of  June,  1835,  it  was 
slated,  by  John  Mackay,  Esq.,  that  not  less  a  sum  than 


i\6  APPENDIX. 

seven  millions  of  pounds  was  expended  on  whiskey,  in 
1833.  Taking  this  as  a  fair  estimate,  of  the  present 
consumption,  in  Ireland,  the  annual  cost  of  liquid  fire 
which  goes  down  into  her  vitals,  and  up  to  the  throne  of 
reason,  is  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars. 

But  this  is  not  all.  In  1836,  there  were  two  hundred 
forty-five  brewers  in  Ireland,  whose  consumption  of  malt 
was  one  million  eight  hundred  twenty-nine  thousand 
five  hundred  eighty-seven  bushels.  The  product  of 
this,  must  have  cost  the  consumers  from  three  to  four 
millions  of  dollars  ;  so  that,  including  wines,  large  quan- 
tities of  which  are  drank  by  the  higher  class  in  Ireland, 
the  aggregate  cost  of  intoxicating  liquors  must  exceed 
forty  millions  of  dollars  1  Now  suppose  this  money  were 
thrown  into  the  Irish  channel,  the  loss  would  amount,^ 
in  ten  years,  to  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars  !  Is  it 
strange  that  there  are  two  millions  and  a  half  of  paupers 
in  Ireland  ?" 


Extract  from  Mr.  Choate's  Report  to  the  Council,  of  the  state  of 
the  temperance  cause  in  the  County  of  Barnstable,  as  observed 
by  him,  during  his  agency  for  the  Massachusetts  Temperance  So- 
ciety in  that  county.  The  statements  in  this  Report  are  highly 
interesting  in  their  direct  connection  with  the  rapid  progress  of  the 
reform.  A  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  First  Temperance  So- 
ciety in  Truro,  to  Mr.  Choate,  is  added. 

Barnstable,  February  15,  1837. 

"  Having  visited  every  part  of  New  England,  I  think 

there  is  no  place  in  which  the  temperance  reformation 

has  effected  so  much  as  in  this  county.     In  the  thirteen 

towns  that  compose  the  county,  but  a  short  time  sincC;; 


APPENDIX.  117 

there  were  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  places  where 
ardent  spirit  could  be  purchased  ;  now,  not  a  single 
glass  can  be  obtained  in  any  part  of  the  county.  The 
young  men  in  the  county,  (most  of  them  sailors)  have 
come  forward,  and  joined  the  temperance  societies, 
resolving  to  banish  intemperance  from  among  them.  I 
have  seen  but  one  case  of  intoxication  during  my  jour- 
neys here  as  your  agent,  and  I  have  visited  every  town 
but  one.  The  number  of  vessels  that  sail  from  this 
district  is  not  far  from  four  hundred,  the  crews  amount- 
ing to  about  three  thousand  men  and  boys  ;  nearly  all, 
as  far  as  I  can  learn,  sail  without  carrying  any  ardent 
spirit  as  a  drink,  at  least  five-sixths  of  them. 

The  number  of  paupers  in  the  county  is  not  far  from 
one  hundred  and  fifty  ;  most  of  them  are  aged,  and  in 
all  cases  where  I  asked,  an  answer  was  given  me  that 
three-fourths  of  them  were  brought  there  by  intemper- 
ance. The  number  of  societies  in  the  different  towns 
is  about  forty,  having  above  three  thousand  members. 
Many  interesting  temperance  meetings  have  lately  been 
held  in  different  parts  of  the  county,  and  meetings  to 
advance  the  cause,  are  being  very  generally  held  through- 
out the  county.  Perhaps  no  county  was  formerly  sunk 
so  low  in  intemperance  as  this,  now  no  county  rises  so 
high  in  the  scale  of  temperance.  In  this  town  there  is 
a  very  handsome  stone  jail,  without  any  occupant,  also  a 
splendid  granite  court-house.  The  court  meets,  three 
times  a  year,  but  generally  adjourns  after  remaining  two 
days. 

Provincetown  has  one  of  the  best  harbors  in  the 
world.     Into  this  harbor,  in  case  of  a  storm,  from  one 


118  APPENDIX. 

hundred  to  a  thousand  sail  often  put  in,  remaining  fre- 
quently a  week  or  ten  days.  Among  this  number  of 
vessels  may  be  comprised  some  from  every  part  of  the 
United  States,  and  from  foreign  countries.  In  this  way 
some  three  or  four  thousand  sailors  are  frequently  brought 
together  in  the  harbor  of  Provincetown.  The  week 
that  they  remained  in  port  was  generally  spent  in  in- 
temperance, from  which  quarrels  arose,  and  murder  was 
sometimes  committed.  Formerly  there  were  many 
places  in  that  town  at  which  the  sailors  might  purchase 
ardent  spirits ;  but  now  none  can  be  obtained.  A  great 
number  of  hogsheads  were  often  sold  in  a  week  formerly, 
but  an  entire  change  in  this  respect  has  been  brought 
about.  All  the  ardent  spirit  that  is  now  used  in  the 
county  is  brought  from  Boston  by  the  packets.  In 
regard  to  wine,  there  is  but  very  little  drank  in  the  coun- 
ty, and  the  constitutions  of  most  of  the  temperance 
societies  prohibit  its  use  ;  some  even  include  beer  and 
cider.  In  Yarmouth  there  was  a  temperance  society 
formed  above  twenty  years  since,  one  of  the  oldest  in 
the  country.  It  is  still  in  existence.  I  obtained  the 
original  constitution  a  few  days  since  ;  it  is  quite  a  curi- 
osity. One  great  object  among  others,  was,  to  do  away 
the  offering  of  wine  and  distilled  liquors  when  visiting 
each  other's  houses. 

There  is  to  be,  on  the  28th,  a  temperance  meetmg. 
The  publication  of  your  society  would  be  gratefully 
received.  1  am  very  respectfully, 

F.  W.  CHOATE. 

To  Dk.  W.  Chinning,  Sec.  Mass.  Temperance  Society. 


APPENDIX.  119 

Truro,  March  10,  1837. 
Sir  : — I  received  your  letter  some  time  since,  direct- 
ed to  the  Rev.  Silas  Baker.  He  left  here  nearly  two 
years  since  ;  therefore,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  answer 
yours.  There  are  two  temperance  societies  in  this 
town.  The  first  consists  of  three  hundred  and  ninety 
five  members,  and  the  second  of  two  hundred  and  thir- 
teen, making  six  hundred  and  eight.  There  are,  in  this 
town,  one  thousand  and  six  hundred  inhabitants.  Each 
of  these  Societies  has  a  President,  Vice  President,  Sec- 
retary, Treasurer,  and  Executive  Committee.  There 
are  about  sixty  sail  of  fishing  vessels  from  this  port  an- 
nually, and  there  are  not  more  than  four  or  five,  within 
my  knowledge,  that  carry  ardent  spirits,  except  as  a 
medicine.  There  are  thirteen  stores,  and  not  one  of 
them  traffics  in  this  article.  I  should  have  answered 
yours  before,  but  it  was  thought  advisable  to  stop  until 
after  the  annual  meeting. 

Yours  with  respect, 

DANIEL  PAINE, 

Secretary  of  the  First  Temperance  Society  in  Truro. 

To  F.  W.  Choate, 

Agent  of  Massachusetts  Temperance  Society,  for  the  County 
of  Barnstable. 


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